My attempts to build a tiny home have been thwarted by a hostile regulatory environment at every turn. So here's what I did instead.

Transform Your Neighborhood Through Cooperative Investment

Combining the small-scale developer model with the co-op model, the Northeast Investment Cooperative brings neighbors together to collectively invest in local properties for as little as $1,000 per person.

John Anderson at CNU24

R. John Anderson talks about the growth of the small-scale developer movement, recent bootcamps hosted by his organization, the Incremental Development Alliance, and the value of small-scale projects.

Historic Buildings Get Newer, Greener Lease on Life

Peggy and Tom Brennan recently renovated and opened two unique buildings in downtown Detroit: the Green Garage, a business incubator and coworking space, and El Moore, a residential apartment building and urban lodge.

Top Story, Small Scale Developers, Quednau, Housing, CNU, #StrongCitizensRachel QuednauJune 8, 2016Detroit

Better towns through stress

Here are 4 different types of stress that can help our cities become strong towns.

Leah Calgaro renovates a historic, mixed-use downtown building

Leah Calgaro is a lifelong resident of the Iron Range. She chose a unique path for a young person and recently purchased a mixed-use building in downtown Virginia, MN. She is living in the upstairs while renovating the other floors. This is her story.

Comeback City: CNU in Detroit

Everybody loves a city that will not stay down. In 2016, that’s Detroit.

Parking vs. the Walkable Building

If we want incremental development that creates walkable places, while building local wealth and improving traditional neighborhoods, we need to make sure our zoning codes enable that vision.

One House at a Time on St. Paul's East Side

One historic home at a time, St. Paul, MN is demonstrating how a critical mass of Strong Citizens can be an incredible asset to a troubled area, and how local government can play a constructive role in the incremental revitalization of such an area.

Incremental Development Projects are Simple, but not Necessarily Easy

Here are the four critical tasks for a small developer trying to get their first project off the ground.

IDA, Housing, Small Scale Developers, Top StoryR. John AndersonMarch 29, 2016tips, Incremental Development Alliance

The Challenges of Building Rental Housing

Zoning is often explicitly biased against renters. This creates challenges not only for the renting population, but also for small-scale developers who would like to build rental housing.

The Urban Ethnic Shuffle

Walking away from a neighborhood is seen as a harmless passive act. Moving in is viewed as an act of aggression and displacement.

Pick a place. Stay there.

As I engage more in this work of neighbourhood-level doing, the role of local knowledge is becoming clearer to me. It seems almost cruel that at a certain scale, local knowledge is worth everything.

The developer who was desperate to save a struggling neighborhood

Monte Anderson of Options Real Estate is a developer from the wrong side of town. Instead of fleeing for greener pastures and easier money, however, he stayed in his community and worked to make it better. Here's how he did it.

Top Story, Small Scale Developers, Housing, PodcastStrong TownsFebruary 24, 2016Monte Anderson, Texas

How HUD Loan Policies Affect Small-Scale Developers

Small developers who want to build modest mixed-use buildings on their town's Main Street are not able to access the favorable financing available to the developers of large single use suburban apartment complexes.

IDA, Housing, Top Story, Small Scale DevelopersR. John AndersonFebruary 24, 2016missing middle, RPA, HUD, multi-family, mixed use

The frustrating real life story of a mixed-use loan (that didn't happen)

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.

Top Story, Small Scale Developers, Podcast, HousingStrong TownsFebruary 23, 2016mixed use, page highlight

6 Ways to Expand Housing Options in Your Community

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.