Category Archives: Affordable Housing

Why Affordable Housing Is So Hard to Find in America’s Big Cities

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“Vanessa Brown Calder found for the Cato Institute that increased land-use regulation is associated with rising real average home prices in 44 states and that rising zoning regulation is associated with rising real average home prices in 36 states. ‘In general,’ she finds, ‘the states that have increased the amount of rules and restrictions on land use the most have higher housing prices.’ As a result, the $200 billion in federal funds, which was spent on subsidizing, renting, and buying homes in 2015, went to states with more restrictive zoning and land-use rules. ‘Federal aid thus creates a disincentive for the states to solve their own housing affordability problems by reducing regulation,’ Brown Calder finds.”

https://fee.org/articles/why-affordable-housing-is-so-hard-to-find-in-america-s-big-cities/

How Developers are Helping Teachers Find Affordable Housing

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“According to the National Education Association, teacher salaries from the 2018-19 school year are down 4.5 percent compared to salaries from the 2009-10 school year, when adjusting for inflating. Over that same time period, the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index has risen by 43.1 percent.

This means many teachers have been forced to leave their school communities—particularly in high-cost metro areas like San Francisco and New York City—or to leave the profession altogether. ”

https://www.curbed.com/2019/5/7/18535284/affordable-housing-teachers-landed-village

Prohibiting Underground Parking Creates Obstacles for Affordable Housing

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“DOEE has indicated that it intends to prohibit purely residential buildings from building underground parking garages unless they obtain a code modification. Mixed-use projects, however, would be allowed to use underground parking garages ‘by right’ and no longer need to obtain a variance. These proposed changes would place another obstacle to delivering affordable housing in the District.”

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/d-c-s-department-of-energy-environment-94186/

Let’s Say ‘Yes In My Backyard’ To Fix Housing Woes

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“Amid soaring housing costs, homelessness and environmental destruction, it’s time to do away with the exclusionary ‘not in my backyard’ (NIMBY) attitude and embrace a ‘yes in my backyard’ (YIMBY) approach that calls for dense, responsible development.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2020/01/28/lets-say-yes-in-my-backyard-to-fix-housing-woes/amp/

Where are the Republican YIMBYs?

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This is a question I have been asking for years.

“People who want dynamism in housing markets and urban development ought of find common ground with Republicans, so why do there seem to be so few Republican YIMBYs? Nolan Gray of the Mercatus Center comments.”

https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/where-are-republican-yimbys