Life in the exurban fallout zones of the housing crisis is precarious. Overbuilt and half empty, many suburbs will never climb out of debt and decline. Federal housing policies put them in this place.
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How federal housing policies run downtowns out of business.
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Federal loan programs do not support the mixed-use, multi-family development essential to these communities.
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This podcast is all about the frustrations of a really intelligent and sophisticated person attempting to do something rather straightforward -- and needed -- and being stymied at every turn.
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The report we are sharing this week deals with some high-level national policy issues. But you can advocate for change in your own community without a trip to Washington DC. Here are six ideas (big and small) for how to do that.
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Our neighborhoods, our cities, and our commitment to each other would improve if more of us lived in places where “bumping into someone on the street” doesn’t involve heavy traffic and a fender bender.
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High housing prices in American cities are a symptom of our shortage of great urban neighborhoods. The tried-and-true solution to a shortage is to supply by building new neighborhoods—places where people want to live.
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The current auto-oriented development pattern is already wreaking havoc on local budgets. That will only get worse in the ensuing years. Another harsh reality we’re starting to face is the aging of our population. The ramifications of having a large population aging in suburbia will be increasingly hard to ignore.
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What is the true value of walkable neighborhoods? Why do we need them and desire them so much?
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Development is not meeting the demand for walkable neighborhoods.
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How does federal housing policy impact your community?
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Eliminating arbitrary commercial caps -- or at least relaxing them -- along with some other modest changes to mitigate risk would expand opportunity and investment at no cost to taxpayers.
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Federal loan standards create a market for some products and restrict the market for others.
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Share photos of empty lots in your community with the hashtag #BuildHereNow.
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Growing numbers of young and old Americans prefer to live in communities where they can walk to stores, school, services, parks and public transportation. But federal housing rules make it difficult to meet this demand.
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It's time to turn our focus toward federal housing policy and the way it distorts the market. If you're frustrated about the lack of choice in housing, issues of affordability, gentrification and blight, you're going to want to pay attention.
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For decades, we’ve convinced ourselves that if we just build a sidewalk, we’ve met the pedestrian’s needs. The truth is that a sidewalk is only the first step in meeting those needs. This new tool comprehensively scores the attractiveness of the walk environment.
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A Strong Towns reader asks, "Why are center turn lanes often as wide or wider than through travel lanes? I would love to use that extra space for bike lanes." And R. Moses answers.
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Many of us tend to think of water as something to be seen on vacation. But you don't need to live in a beachside villa in the Caribbean in order to experience the value of water.
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We’ve set up a scheme resembling Enron-style accounting where debt and liabilities are hidden in subsidiaries (municipalities).
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