Archinect - News

White House announces new guidebook to funding office conversions nationwide

2023-10-28T08:00:00-04:00

The Biden Administration has announced a new initiative aimed at financing office conversions in an effort to combat the growing problem of high vacancy rates and housing affordability in markets large and small across the country.

The announcement comes as vacancy rates have skyrocketed to 30-year highs, according to the White House. Some cities like Washington, D.C. have seen rates as high as 50% in their CBD areas, prompting desperate appeals from politicians to enact wholesale changes to the built environment that’s backed up by funding from the federal level. Now, in unison with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Transportation (DOT), the government has officially published its guidelines for obtaining available funding through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act and Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing, and other programs.

The White House press release says: “Converting commercial real estate to housing a...

Political disorder is impeding much-needed housing progress in Los Angeles

2023-01-10T12:54:00-05:00

To ease Los Angeles’ crushing housing shortage, the city needs a lot more new homes, especially affordable ones. Yet the City Council has been sitting on two community plans that would make it easier for developers to construct housing and boost the number of low-income units in downtown and Hollywood. What’s the holdup? Politics and scandal.

One of the plans, the Downtown Community Plan, which aims to add 100,000 new homes to Los Angeles’ downtown core through 2040, was put on hold after an audio recording surfaced revealing three council members making racist and offensive comments about their colleagues and constituents. Two of the council members involved, former LA mayoral candidate Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, helped shape the plan but are now unavailable to push it forward.

The Los Angeles Times highlights the problematic nature of the political structure around development, in which council members have total control over land-use decisions, which, in the case of the Downtown Community Plan has backfired. This, along with the Hollywood Community Plan, which is also experiencing a prolonged delay, is designed to make the approval process quicker for mixed-income developments.

If the City Council doesn’t act on the plans by May, the documents will expire and the approval process will restart.

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UNStudio proposes a new meaning for 'smart living' with their latest residential project in Munich

2021-02-10T20:29:00-05:00

Conversation around the future of housing is a topic commonly discussed within architecture and urban planning circles. Firms large and small have postulated where issues within housing schemes lie and how the industry can address them. However, as architects continue to dance around solutions for "smart housing" and urban living, there are reservations on what that looks like specifically.

While housing issues vary worldwide based on their social, political, and environmental factors, firms like MVRDV, Sidewalk Labs, among others, have presented ideas that aim to reimagine residential developments and their so-called "smart" components. Recently, UNStudio announced the introduction of their latest residential project in Munich called Van B. They claim their prototype for modern city-dwelling will "cater to changing demographics and multiple family constellations. With its highly flexible apartments, outdoor and shared communal spaces, and striking facade, Van B offers a new form o...

"Sue The Suburbs" group puts apartment-denying Los Altos, California on notice

2019-08-15T09:00:00-04:00

The four-person California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund, or CaRLA, has one reason for being — to sue cities that reject housing projects without a valid reason. The litigious nonprofit with YIMBY roots struck again last month, suing Los Altos after the city rejected a developer’s bid to streamline a project of 15 apartments plus ground-floor office space.

CaRLA continues its aggressive efforts to get San Francisco Bay Area cities to stop denying by-right housing developments.

“Something, by hook or by crook, has to make these cities actually build housing,” Sonja Trauss, co-executive director of CaRLA, told The Mercury News.

Cory Booker's housing plan targets structural issues

2019-06-14T17:51:00-04:00

2020 Democratic presidential contender Cory Booker has unveiled an ambitious housing and homelessness prevention plan.

With his plan, the current junior senator from New Jersey and former Newark mayor takes a multi-faceted approach that aims to address many of the structural issues that underpin the country's housing affordability crisis.

To help rent-burdened Americans better afford their existing housing, for example, the candidate proposes a so-called "renters credit" that would cap rental costs at "30 percent of income for working and middle-class Americans." The plan will refund money to renters whose housing costs exceed 30 percent of their before-tax income. In a Medium post announcing the plan, Booker writes, "According to researchers at Columbia University, the impact would be sweeping: the credit would benefit more than 57 million people, including nearly 17 million children, and lift 9.4 million Americans out of poverty. The median credit for a benefitting family would ...

Tiny, cartoonish homes by artist Richard Woods pop up in British seaside town

2017-08-25T15:12:00-04:00

For his latest project, Holiday Home – part of this year’s Folkestone Triennial (2 Sept to 5 Nov) – Woods has created six colorful bungalows, situated in unexpected locations around the town.

Richard Woods is known for his architectural installations that feature colorful, geometric patterns and playful decorative facades. For his latest project, the UK artist has installed six tiny, cartoon-like homes across the town of Folkestone.

In his interview with the Guardian, the artist explained the idea of the project came from visiting the seaside town and receiving a "strange leaflet saying, 'Have you thought about turning your property into cash?'" He goes on the explain, "the idea grew out of that: to make six identical bungalows and install some in very desirable locations, some not, but keeping it very open-ended."