Monopoly Hotels and Missing Middle Housing

In Monopoly, there are only two types of real estate: houses and hotels. But were hotels understood differently in 1904, when the game was first created?

Housing, Member Post, Sanphillippo, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoFebruary 18, 2022housing, housing cost, housing affordability, housing crisis, Housing Crisis, history, History, missing middle, affordable housing, San Francisco, California, Granola Shotgun

The Carpetbagger’s Guide to Home Ownership

Johnny Sanphillippo takes a break from writing about his current real-estate activities to talk about how he first bought property when he was younger and infinitely poorer.

Housing, Member Post, Sanphillippo, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoJanuary 11, 2022housing cost, housing affordability, Homeownership, homeowners, housing, Granola Shotgun, California, San Francisco

California's SB 9: A Slow Reversion to the Historic Mean

California's Senate Bill 9 has sparked controversy, mainly among owners of single-family homes. But are we returning to historic forms of housing anyway, with or without state legislation?

Housing, Member Post, Sanphillippo, Zoning, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoNovember 1, 2021Housing, California, San Francisco, Granola Shotgun, zoning, housing policy, duplex, ADUs

Grandpa’s Basement House

Somehow, as a society, we’ve drifted from ordinary people being able to build their own homes on a cash basis in an interactive, iterative way, to immense, hyper-elaborate habitats.

Member Post, Sanphillippo, Rural, Suburban Experiment, Incrementalism, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoAugust 13, 2021traditional development pattern, history, suburban development pattern, suburban experiment, San Francisco, Nebraska, incremental development, incrementalism

When Do Legal Restrictions on Homes Become "Takings"?

The “Takings Clause” prohibits the government from taking private property without just compensation. But what if it’s interpreted in unexpected ways?

Housing, Local Government, Federal Government, Sanphillippo, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoMay 4, 2021housing, San Francisco, Law, Homeownership, local regulation

For Texas, a Harbinger of Things to Come

Lack of affordability, the gap between the rich and poor, strained public infrastructure: California’s problems are now becoming Texas’s problems.

Housing, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoMarch 22, 2021Texas, California, San Francisco, Housing

The Acropalypse

What happens when suburban requirements clash with urban density? Often, an uninspiring hybrid that people are still willing to pay for.

Suburban Experiment, Urban Design, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoSeptember 30, 2020suburban development pattern, San Francisco, Bay Area

When Streets Were For Everyone

An incredible video from 1906 San Francisco—colorized and digitally remastered—depicts a time when streets were truly available for every type of user.

Transportation, Top Story, Horbovetz, Public TransitArian HorbovetzSeptember 1, 2020public transit, history, San Francisco, fieldsteadca

This Is the Great Reshuffling

The fallout from the pandemic is spurring a housing re-shuffling in San Francisco. And not just from people fleeing the city—but people moving to the city and within the city.

Top Story, Sanphillippo, Housing, CoronavirusJohnny SanphillippoAugust 20, 2020San Francisco, Granola Shotgun, housing, Coronavirus, fieldsteadca, California

Skinning Your Knee vs. Breaking Your Leg

A cautionary tale from the superheated housing market of San Francisco.

Sanphillippo, Housing, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoMarch 3, 2020Bay Area, San Francisco, housing crisis, Granola Shotgun, fieldsteadca, California

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Commuter rail stations in the San Francisco Bay Area should be some of the most valuable land in the region (and by extension, the world). So why are there so many parking lots and one-story buildings right next to them?

Herriges, Zoning, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesAugust 22, 2019suburban experiment, zoning, California, Bay Area, San Francisco, fieldsteadca, fieldsteadcafeatured, transit

Hey Google, Tell Me How to Make Bay Area Housing More Affordable

Google wants to dedicate $1 billion to creating housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is a big enough number to make a real dent, but will it help tackle the systemic issues driving the region’s housing crisis?

Housing, Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJune 21, 2019affordable housing, Housing Crisis, San Francisco, Google

E-Scooters and Who Takes Up Space in Cities

In this podcast episode, Chuck Marohn and Strong Towns board member Andrew Burleson discuss how electric scooters could change the way we think about how space is allocated on our streets.

PodcastStrong TownsAugust 2, 2018transportation, parking, congestion, scooters, biking, San Francisco, traffic engineering

Winners and Losers from Rent Control

A new study of San Francisco’s rent control shows it raises rents for some.

Member Post, Housing, Top StoryJoe CortrightNovember 8, 2017affordable housing, San Francisco, renters

The $50,000 San Francisco Home

Breaking down the numbers to construct a truly affordable housing model.

Housing, Member Post, Small Scale Developers, Top Story, Urban DesignNathan LewisSeptember 26, 2016San Francisco, affordable housing

Hacking School

When you're faced with the choice of living in an urban neighborhood with "poor" schools, or a suburban neighborhood with "good" schools, you find a work around. That's what these entrepreneurial spirits did in San Francisco.

#StrongCitizens, Top Story, Sanphillippo, SchoolsJohnny SanphillippoSeptember 12, 2016schools, San Francisco, children, family, page highlight

One key strategy to make New York more affordable

These places all have many of the physical elements needed for success, quite frankly, because they were built for it originally. What they need most is people; people that care about the place and have the energy to make it better.

Zoning, Walkability, Urban Design, Member Post, Housing, Top EvergreenKevin KlinkenbergAugust 4, 2016traditional development pattern, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Portland OR, Maine, Millennials, zoning

24th Street, San Francisco

San Francisco's Mission District is an example of everything that makes a Strong Town work: incremental development, urbanism oriented to people rather than cars, a deeply rooted local economy, and a distinctive sense of place. It's also in peril because of decades of collective failure to allow more places like it to be built.

Herriges, Urban Design, Top Story, #ChaoticButSmartDaniel HerrigesNovember 16, 2015San Francisco, affordable housing, gentrification, Sense-of-place, incremental development, walkability

Real Value

Monday Member Blog Digest: Identifying places of real versus illusory value. What is a "bad neighborhood" anyway? What is the best use of land under or next to an urban freeway? The bright future of the Midwestern "Rust Belt," and why the past isn't a good guide to the future when it comes to real estate values. Neighborhood churches as an urban litmus test. Thoughts on Pope Francis's message re: cities and urbanism. Block parties and red tape. A victory for cyclists in South Florida. When to put your time and energy into an idea when you have more of them than you can effectively advocate for.