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British construction tech start-up Automated Architecture (AUAR) is sending two of its pop-up, robotic micro-factories to the U.S. for the first time in a move to bring automated and affordable house building to North America. Founded in 2019, AUAR functions by licensing its technology to builders... View full entry
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the formation of a new multi-agency task force aimed at finding city-owned land and properties that can be redeveloped in the interest of putting an end to its greatest housing crisis in more than 50 years. According to amNewYork, the new City... View full entry
Calling on lawmakers to do away with the "outdated laws and regulations that made it harder to build homes for working people," former U.S. President Barack Obama thrilled audience members with an impassioned plea for mass-scale housing production at the 2024 Democratic National Convention... View full entry
Last month, the [UK] government announced a task force to develop a strategy for new towns — settlements of more than 10,000 homes — and make recommendations for their locations within a year. The government has not set a target for the number of towns and acknowledges that they will take a long time to deliver. — The New York Times
Britain, short on more than four million homes, is mulling a revival of its post-war New Towns after a decisive Labour Party victory vaulted progressive leadership into power with a mandate to combat its ongoing housing crisis. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently told the BBC that he is a... View full entry
The crisis of housing in New York City isn't going anywhere soon: The latest data from a key city agency has revealed a pronounced stalemate in the number of new apartment buildings currently planned for construction in all five boroughs. A lack of tax incentives, including the expiration of rule... View full entry
Through my research on elevators, I got a glimpse into why so little new housing is built in America and why what is built is often of such low quality and at high cost. The problem with elevators is a microcosm of the challenges of the broader construction industry — from labor to building codes to a sheer lack of political will. [...]
It’s become hard to shake the feeling that America has simply lost the capacity to build things in the real world, outside of an app.
— The New York Times
Stephen Smith, through the New York nonprofit Center for Building in North America, has been exposing variables that undermine the housing market's intricate calculus in the form of building codes, cost of labor, zoning regulations, and the construction industry. He says: "Elevators in North... View full entry
A new report on California’s entrenched housing crisis from the state's independent Little Hoover Commission has identified the 54-year-old California Environmental Quality Act (or CEQA) as the greatest barrier currently in the way of architects and planners looking to meet the demand for... View full entry
New research published recently by the Brookings Institution has provided details of how local government in Los Angeles can galvanize a newfound abundance of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) through policy changes in order to combat an ongoing housing crisis currently affecting more than one... View full entry
San Francisco-based Cosmic has raised $1.5 million in funding for their micro-home product designs aimed at bringing “self-sustainable homes in California and beyond.” The company’s leading product, Cosmic ONE, is described as a “limited-edition high-quality micro-home” that... View full entry
California-based Samara has opened a factory in Mexicali, Mexico, to scale up manufacturing of their backyard ADU units. As we reported in late 2022, the startup is led by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia alongside former Flex chief executive Mike McNamara. Image credit: Samara The 150,000-square-foot... View full entry
The White House has announced a series of moves to increase the production of manufactured housing in the United States. The initiatives are intended to both preserve and rehabilitate existing manufactured home communities and ease barriers to the construction of new units. The moves include a... View full entry
A new supportive housing concept in Los Angeles has been introduced by LA-based practices Kadre Architects and Lehrer Architects. The design teams shared it can become a new model for design resourcefulness and occupants’ dignity at a time when the city, as do many others in... View full entry
A plan to transform the former Hilton Hotel at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City into supportive housing has been announced as the inaugural effort of the important new Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act (HONDA) program by Mayor Eric Adams. Aufgang Architects will be... 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
