With interest rates rising, the cost and availability of housing are becoming increasingly popular topics of debate. But most of these discussions fail to challenge the root of the issue: the absurdity of mortgages as an investment vehicle.
Read MoreIf we listen to those concerned about housing affordability, rents are already too high and may only go higher. If we listen to those concerned about housing finance, rents are about to collapse. Can both of these narratives be true?
Read MoreHouston’s fiscal problems are less critical than other major cities with large budget shortfalls—yet, their mayor is correct when he said his city is broke, that the financial approach of the city is clearly not working. Here’s why.
Read MoreSmall-scale developer Coby Lefkowitz joins us to discuss how finance shapes our cities, why debt is used to develop cities, and and why America's housing financial system privileges large-scale institutional development.
Read MoreHow do we get philanthropy involved in community building, and how do we make good investments in our cities and towns? How do we access federal programs and bigger resources effectively?
Read MoreFor local governments, it’s often easier to let the tangled web of debt at the heart of the budget go unexplored. In cities reliant on sales tax, these problems are only magnified.
Read MoreAt a glance, the sales tax is a nearly invisible revenue source that is also a cash cow. Yet, for local governments, it is the most distorting of taxes. Here’s why.
Read MoreIn this week’s episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck Marohn talks about the financial system, and provides insights on what’s currently happening in the banking industry.
Read MoreThe proposed annual budget for Winnipeg, MB, reveals the true cost of the Suburban Experiment, and the vibrancy that the city (and so many others like it) has sacrificed in many of its neighborhoods.
Read MoreThe town council in Castle Rock, CO, received a shocking briefing at a recent meeting: that their single, mid-sized region within a single, mid-sized state has accrued almost a billion dollars of debt. But how?
Read MoreAll over the U.S., studies have shed light on how much residents in lower-valued homes are being overassessed on property taxes. Now, Buncombe County, NC, is offering residents a space to appeal their assessments.
Read MoreWarren Buffet has broken his practice of “staying out of local politics" to criticize a streetcar project in his home city of Omaha, NE…but why does he have nothing to say on the city’s ridiculous and reckless highway projects?
Read MoreThis week on the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck Marohn chats with Epsilon Theory’s Ben Hunt about Bitcoin.
Read MoreA recent study on curbside dining in Toronto found that there are loads of financial possibilities waiting in empty parking spaces.
Read MoreIf a natural disaster hit your city, would your tax revenue pay for the damage, or would you be underwater—literally and figuratively?
Read MoreIf one thing’s clear about the housing market, it’s that it’s currently more sensitive to factors outside of your community—outside of your control—than anything within.
Read MoreProperty taxes represent the largest source of revenue for most local governments, and data shows that even unglamorous downtown areas offer more value as taxable properties than big box stores.
Read MoreThe Suburban Experiment is a bad business model, and nothing demonstrates that more clearly than Jackson, Mississippi’s, ongoing water crisis.
Read MoreMansions on large lots, not rundown properties in low-socioeconomic-status neighborhoods, are the real blight on a community’s financial health.
Read MoreYet another failed mall (this time in Milwaukee, WI) proves to be a drag on—and an active harm to—its surroundings.
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