Affordable Housing - Top Content

John Pattison
John Pattison
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"The 5 Immutable Laws of Affordable Housing"

There’s probably no panacea for housing affordability. Here are five immutable laws of affordable housing that cities must recognize if they want to move forward. Plus three strategies for doing so.

"5 Creative Strategies for Increasing Affordable Housing"

Increasing affordable housing doesn't have to require millions in public dollars or fancy new construction.

"Can a Big City Solve a Big Housing Shortage Incrementally?" (Podcast)

Incremental development doesn’t mean slow development. Here’s how big places that need housing fast can get there using the Strong Towns approach.

"We Are In a Housing Trap. Can We Escape?" (Video)

Housing is an investment. And investment prices must go up. Housing is shelter. When the price of shelter goes up, people experience distress. Housing can’t be both a good investment and broadly affordable—yet we insist on both. This is the housing trap.

"A Composition of Fallacy"

Let's stop pretending we know the simple antidote to the painful symptoms our housing prices are expressing and instead humble ourselves to admit that we don't understand all the complexity. 

"Federal and State Programs Can’t Fix the Housing Crisis, but Local Action Can"

For those seeking broad housing affordability, the obvious conclusion is that the state and federal toolboxes are too constrained to solve this problem. They can no more sink housing prices than you can cut off your own arm to stop the spread of an infection. The path to housing affordability runs through local government. The only way to address this problem is from the bottom up.

"Want to Make Housing More Affordable? Start by Designing Neighborhoods, Not Just Buildings."

The best approaches to affordable housing solve other problems at the same time. This and other lessons from “the Michael Jordan of urban planners.”

"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.

"How Do We Define Affordable Housing?"

How affordability is defined and measured can affect which solutions are implemented.

"Where Did All the Affordable Housing Go?" (Podcast)

In this podcast interview, Emily Hamilton of the Mercatus Center discusses the decline of affordable housing in America and how we can get it back.

"The High, High Price of Affordable Housing"

Until cities can lower the cost of building affordable housing, they'll never be able to create enough of it.

"Localizing Affordable Housing"

A reliance on federal funding for housing puts local entities at the mercy of distant decision makers whose priorities may or may not be aligned with theirs. Cities and advocacy groups should be thinking about how to re-localize and claim more control over the way we tackle these problems.

"Achieving Scale in Affordable Housing"

Feel-good programs like inclusionary zoning are mostly a token response to a problem of much more substantial dimension.

"How Affordable Housing Distracts People From Housing Affordability"

Building affordable housing seems like a win for cities struggling in the Housing Trap. But between its top-down nature and the public subsidies it requires, affordable housing can actually make things worse.

"Housing Unaffordability Is the Result of Artificial Scarcity"

When there is demand to live in an area, the market should naturally respond by increasing the supply of housing.

"Why Your Town Needs Comprehensive Affordable Housing"

Comprehensive affordable housing that actually benefits a community is not just cheap housing.

 
 
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