Herriges Rezoned: “Why Are Developers Only Building Luxury Housing?”

"Developers in my city are only building luxury housing. They're not building anything that ordinary people can afford." If you’ve said this lately, or heard someone else say it, here are five possible reasons why.

Herriges, Cost of Development, Housing, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesApril 27, 2022housing, housing market, Development, development, affordable housing, gentrification, Gentrification, missing middle

Can We Build Strong Towns from Scratch in the 21st Century?

We love organically grown, incrementally developed cities…but could we replicate their success if we started a new city from scratch?

Upzoned, Podcast, Housing, Top StoryStrong TownsApril 20, 2022Podcast, podcast, Upzoned, housing, Development, development, development pattern, traditional development pattern, cities

The NIMBYs Made $6.9 Trillion Last Year

We keep looking for villains to blame for the housing affordability crisis—but are we pointing fingers at the wrong culprits?

City Observatory, Housing, Top StoryJoe CortrightApril 20, 2022housing, housing cost, housing affordability, housing crisis, Housing Crisis, housing market, Housing, homeowners, Homeownership, homeownership, race, Race, City Observatory, Joe Cortright

High Water Victorians, Roosevelt Corner Shops, and Hipster Legos

This walking tour in Sacramento, CA, reveals much about its past and present challenges with housing.

Housing, Sanphillippo, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoApril 18, 2022California, housing, Housing, housing affordability, housing market, missing middle, Development, affordable housing, neighborhood, Neighborhoods

Herriges Rezoned: A Suburban Poverty Boomtown - Lehigh Acres, Florida

This suburb is a growing place, but it's not a successful place. It risks becoming an increasingly isolating place full of people who are cut off from the economic mainstream.

Suburban Poverty, Growth Ponzi Scheme, Housing, Transportation, Top Evergreen, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesApril 13, 2022suburbs, Florida, suburban experiment, Ferguson, page highlight, housing

CNBC Tackles the Growth Ponzi Scheme

You don’t want to miss this CNBC documentary video about the financial fragility of the suburban development pattern.

Growth Ponzi Scheme, Suburban Experiment, Video, Top StoryLauren FisherApril 11, 2022Growth Ponzi Scheme, suburban experiment, suburban development pattern, mixed use, housing, Development, development pattern, development

House Hacking: Urbanism at Its Smallest and Most Personal

This catalog is a primer on house hacking, with plenty of real-life examples of how it is done.

CNU, Housing, Incrementalism, Top StoryRobert SteutevilleApril 7, 2022housing, housing affordability, housing cost, housing activism, Housing, small scale developers, small scale development, incremental development, incremental, incrementalism

Why Are Our Parents in Wholly Random Places?

Even if you yourself are able to live in a walkable area, you can’t choose where your loved ones live. And as this author describes, that adds to the difficulties of caring for an ailing parent.

Housing, Walkability, Top StoryDawie CoetzeeApril 6, 2022housing, aging, family, housing cost, housing policy, walkability, single-family, zoning, #PedestrianUnfriendly

Is It Time for a National Zoning Atlas?

This advocacy group created the first online map to show how an entire state zones for housing. And they want to take the effort nationwide.

Herriges, Race, Zoning, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesMarch 30, 2022advocacy, zoning, Connecticut, mapping, maps, housing, Housing, race, Race, segregation

Why Are Used Homes So Expensive? (Part 2)

We’ve explored why new housing is so expensive…but why is it often the same case for used housing?

Housing, Top StorySeth ZerenMarch 28, 2022housing, housing cost, housing affordability, housing crisis, Housing Crisis, housing market, Housing, Homeownership, homeownership

We Could Fit Lots of Homes in the Middle of Old Strip Malls

Redeveloping just 10 percent of strip malls could fill a nine-year supply of housing in the Boston region, a new study finds. What could similar efforts elsewhere do?

Housing, Zoning, Top StoryCatie GouldMarch 23, 2022housing, housing crisis, Housing Crisis, sprawl retrofit, suburban retrofit, strip malls, Massachusetts, zoning

Can a Houstonian Approach to Homelessness Work in L.A.?

L.A. is facing an increasing problem with homelessness. Can it learn something from the efforts of another large Sunbelt city?

Upzoned, Podcast, Housing, Top StoryStrong TownsMarch 9, 2022Podcast, podcast, Upzoned, homelessness, Homelessness, Homeownership, Los Angeles, Houston, California, Texas, housing, Housing, housing crisis, Housing Crisis

Would Tax Abatements Spur More ADU Construction in Anchorage?

Like so many other cities, Anchorage needs to encourage more options for housing. But how?

Housing, Zoning, Top StoryMikhail SiskoffMarch 1, 2022accessory dwelling units, housing, housing crisis, Housing Crisis, housing policy, zoning, alaska, anchorage

Annamarie Pluhar: Shared Housing Doesn't Have to Be Scary

It’s time we embraced co-housing as a viable solution for both affordable housing and social isolation.

Podcast, Marohn, ST Podcast, Housing, Top StoryStrong TownsFebruary 28, 2022Podcast, housing, Housing, housing crisis, Housing Crisis, co-housing

The "Lickety Splits": Working Around High Housing Costs in California

Small-scale developer Johnny Sanphillippo shares tales of Californians employing simple, low-cost, high-yield measures to get by amidst the housing crisis.

Housing, Member Post, Sanphillippo, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoFebruary 25, 2022housing, housing cost, housing affordability, housing crisis, Housing Crisis, affordable housing, California, Granola Shotgun, homelessness, Homelessness

Why Is New Housing So Expensive? (Part 1)

In the first of this two-part series, Seth Zeren breaks down why modern-day housing is so expensive compared to housing of the mid-20th century.

Housing, Finance, Top StorySeth ZerenFebruary 24, 2022housing cost, housing, housing affordability, Housing, housing finance

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

Wildfires and Ice Storms and Pandemics…Oh My!

Co-housing not only saves money for these two families—and enabled them to buy a home, in the first place—it’s also allowed them to better weather hard times.

Community, Housing, Pattison, Updates, Top StoryJohn PattisonFebruary 16, 2022Homeownership, homeowners, co-housing, housing, Housing, housing cost, housing affordability, community building, community, Community

Bringing Gentle Density to Memphis

These brothers are pushing for incremental infill development in Memphis, Tennessee, with a community they’re building just north of downtown.

Where Does Cohousing Fit in the Housing Ecosystem?

When her marriage of 17 years ended, this now-single mother found herself without a home in an expensive city. The solution she found? Co-housing with two other single parents.