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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
Plans to turn the old Vallco Shopping Mall in Cupertino into a giant mixed-use development were met with much push back from community members, The Mercury News reports. But now the development, which will consist of 2,402 apartments, 400,000 square feet of retail, and 1.8 million square feet... View full entry
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan "Yes In My Backyard" (YIMBY) Act this week, which aims to address the country’s affordable housing crisis by reducing barriers to increase housing production.
The bill, which calls for high-density single-family and multifamily zoning, is sponsored by Rep. Denny Heck, D-WA, and Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, R-IN.
— Smart Cities Dive
The bill, according to Smart Cities Dive, also calls for reducing minimum lot size; allowing manufactured homes in areas zoned for single-family residential dwellings; and allowing for duplexes in areas zoned mostly for single-family residential homes. View full entry
Now SB 50 allows cities two years to adopt their own plans to achieve the bill’s central goal, which is to greatly increase the amount of market-rate and affordable housing built near transit and job centers [...] without increasing car travel or concentrating the new homes in low-income areas while leaving more affluent areas untouched. — The Los Angeles Times
Writing in The Los Angeles Times, opinion columnist Kerry Cavanaugh highlights some of the recent changes made to proposed legislation from California State Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco. Wiener's SB 50 measure is a statewide densification initiative that's been a work in... View full entry
Under AB 68, homeowners who apply to build accessory dwelling units, or “granny flats,” can also apply to build a second, “junior” ADU on their property — the functional equivalent of statewide triplex zoning. While the new rules don’t allow the subdivision of properties for sale, they could unleash a “golden age” of ADU construction across the state, leading to a significant increase in housing supply. — California YIMBY
“The passage of AB 68 [...] fundamentally shifts the landscape for building new homes in our state,” Brian Hanlon, co-founder and president of zoning reform advocacy group California YIMBY said via press release, adding, “When the Governor signs these bills into law, almost every residential... View full entry
At its current rate of growth, Brooklyn is about to be more populous than the entire city of Chicago.
Saying “we need more housing” is a given, but no one agrees on where, how high, and for whom. And New York has been later to that discussion than San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles: While the city is building housing, technically, it is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of 144,000 new Kings County residents since 2010.
— Curbed New York
Alexandra Lange takes a closer look at Brooklyn's contested 80 Flatbush mixed-use development and argues why it's good for the borough. View full entry
If we are to take the housing crisis in the United States seriously,
after reviewing international models, we see only one conclusion—local governments, supported by the federal government, must build a
very large amount of affordable, mixed income, publicly-owned housing, initially by developing existing publicly-owned land.
— 3P
The People's Policy Project (3P) has put out a report making the case for Social Housing in the United States. The authors, Ryan Cooper and Peter Gowan, also published an adapted essay in Jacobin Magazine wherein they contrast their approach with previous programs like HOPE VI: "We support a... View full entry
For homeless advocates who had been glowing after November, the unanimous vote in August blocking the project by a Los Angeles City Council land use committee, headed by Mr. Huizar, was a discouraging setback. It was also a reminder that some of the toughest battles lie ahead as Los Angeles moves from the task of persuading voters to raise money for the homeless to the logistics of getting the money spent. — NYT
Adam Nagourney reports in from L.A., where homeless advocates and neighborhood activists are fighting over implementation of HHH (a $1.2 billion effort to build housing for the homeless). NIMBYs or concerned citizens? Professor Tim Iglesias responded "it will require sustained political will to... View full entry
Trauss's followers live by the neoliberal belief that deregulation and building more housing, even if it's only affordable to the richest of the rich, will trickle down and eventually make housing affordable for all. Her vision is Reagonomics "dressed up in a progressive sheep's costume," according to Becker. But Trauss's "fresh approach" to the dilemma of exploding housing costs has got conservative libertarians and lefty media outlets alike foaming at the mouth for more. — Truth-Out
San Francisco, and the surrounding Bay Area, has long been the example around which issues of gentrification are discussed and cited. While it is far from being the only city to deal with an influx of wealth and the subsequent displacement of local residents, its role as the center of the tech... View full entry
