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Under state laws designed to remedy a housing shortage, the city has to set aside land for the construction of 250,000 more homes than allowed through existing zoning rules. Measures under consideration by a City Council committee are likely to satisfy the state requirements, the UCLA analysis found. But when analyzing the likelihood of what developers would actually build, researchers found the number of new homes would be far lower. — LA Times
The L.A. City Council is expected to vote later this afternoon to approve the rezoning measure. The report's co-author Shane Phillips of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies says the city would be better served if its generous slate of incentives was expanded to cover the... View full entry
Will L.A. continue to preserve communities dominated by single-family homes? Or will the city make a historic shift to allow for more affordable housing in areas that have long excluded it? — LA Times
City Planning officials voted on Thursday to approve the plan, which the LA Times pointed out is limited to just 28% of the city and areas that are heavily zoned for commercial and/or multifamily construction. The publication had to use a F.O.I.L. Act petition to obtain a copy of the... View full entry
The fight to curtail so-called megamansions was picked up recently by Realtor.com. They say the colloquial square footage "horse" has "already left the barn," adding the caveat that the typical American home size has increased by 150% between 1980 and 2018. Some other choice takeaways... View full entry
One major consequence of this difference in design is that the North American double-loaded corridor buildings are much worse at providing family-sized units. To illustrate the point, we’ll go through the different sized apartments one by one, and compare the floor area and design. You’ll notice that the American plans have significantly more floor area for the same number of bedrooms, and have much more lightless interior space up against the common corridor to fill. — Center for Building in North America
Stephen Smith is a former journalist and the Executive Director of the Brooklyn-based Center for Building in North America. His analysis of spatial challenges created by multifamily apartments and zoning conditions was featured recently in Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast. This is an adroit relaying... View full entry
The publication of a new research paper from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University has provided policymakers with a useful nationwide assessment of different state-level policies regarding Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in the United States. The paper centers on two markets... View full entry
Mayor Eric Adams proposed on Thursday a major overhaul of New York City’s approach to development that his administration says could make way for as many as 100,000 additional homes in the coming years and ease the city’s severe housing crisis. [...]
The proposals could bring new housing development to nearly every corner of New York City and reflect a growing political consensus that the city must do everything it can to build.
— The New York Times
In last week's announcement of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan, several measures designed to achieve the declared goal of adding 100,000 new residential units were listed, including the end of parking mandates for new housing, the legalization of ADUs, encouraging shared living and... View full entry
A new study from the University of California, Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation has uncovered over 171,749 acres of developable land owned by nonprofit colleges or faith-based organizations in the state, bolstering the aims of the “Yes in God’s Backyard” movement as it... View full entry
The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley has released a statewide assessment of the development of housing five years after the implementation of California's Senate Bill (SB) 35 began in 2018. The bill eased the barriers to housing production for builders, in some cases removing... View full entry
The borough of Manhattan, home to 1.7 million people, approved no new units of housing last month and just 10 buildings with 279 units in total were approved last month in the other four boroughs combined. City leaders are raising the alarm about the anemic pace of development. — Business Insider
The lack of new housing starts mirrors a nationwide dip that was recorded at 24% for the month of June, according to the latest Dodge Construction Network report. Manhattan has seen ruinous housing cost increases since the pandemic abated, irking those in power who feel the need to end a citywide... View full entry
The code compliance platform UpCodes has raised $3.5 million in funding. The San Francisco-based company describes itself as a “platform for architects, engineers, GCs, tradespeople, building owners, and homeowners” to provide a “searchable library of the adapted codes, updates, amendments... View full entry
A proposed new high-rise development in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district is standing out over its disputed manipulation of statewide density laws. The LA Times is reporting on CH Planning‘s unlikely new proposal, which could add a Solomon Cordwell Buenz-designed 50-story... View full entry
The simplest takeaway from Seattle’s new report is that ADU production is up. The city granted permits to 988 units last year, and more than 650 were built — not all projects are built during the year they get permitted — outpacing the construction of single houses for the first time — The Seattle Times
As the Seattle Times reports, a change in regulations in 2019 led to the ADU boom locally. The city will now permit up to two ADU developments per lot, leading to a better-than-predicted 1,336 units being constructed against a total of 554 single-family homes being razed over a two-year period... View full entry
As the religious and urban landscape changes in North America, churches have had to adapt and evolve. [...]
Black churches are responding to these shifts in religiousness, population change, and lack of housing by working to change land use regulations and asking how church property can serve a different function in the community.
— Shelterforce
Seattle’s Nehemiah Initiative is cited as one example of the nationwide movement that is taking root in Washington, D.C., San Diego, and Oakland, among other places. There, certain neighborhoods have seen more than 50% declines in their Black population. A pair of University of Washington studio... View full entry
The American Planning Association (APA) has released a policy guide titled ‘Equity in Zoning’ which advocates for planning-led zoning reforms that can dismantle discriminatory barriers. The 53-page guide addresses zoning across local, state, and federal levels and “prioritizes reversing and... View full entry
There is another cause of overcrowding and homelessness. It is mansionization, the demolition of older, smaller, less expensive houses by real estate speculators who quickly replace them with spec McMansions: boxy, shoddily built houses that max out the permitted building envelope. — City Watch LA
The disincentive to build multifamily and affordable housing is made worse by the popularity of these easily repeatable home designs, which also cost more to construct while taking up more space and using more water and electricity. Certain communities around L.A. County have developed effective... View full entry
