Why is California behind Texas and other states in curbing homelessness?
Homelessness is surging nationwide. Homelessness rates rose an astonishing 15 percent on average in major cities last year. It seems like the rest of the U.S. is waking up to what California has been...
HUD’s race-based housing
A major goal of President Obama's second term is to use the brute force of government to reduce inequality.
This played out in the struggle over tax increases, but the Obama bureaucracies will do the...
We can heal nation through housing
As we have seen time and time again, individuals, families and children able to afford quality shelter live better, healthier lives.
Unfortunately, it is well documented that too many cannot.
In 46 New York City schools...
New lawsuit in Seattle: Housing ordinance is unfair and unconstitutional
Seattle’s Fair Chance Housing Ordinance, passed by city council in 2017, forbids landlords from considering applicants’ criminal histories when selecting tenants. In other words, landlords cannot base a rental decision on concerns over their...
Dangerous trends
The real precedent was set with the 1998 multi-state tobacco settlement of $365.5 billion. Tobacco is a legal substance. In the mafia, this is called a shake down. If the government can attack one...
NMHC weighs in on HUD
After considering the Administration’s goal as well as its previous attempts to shoehorn minorities into largely homogenous communities in which they otherwise could not afford to live, the author comes to this conclusion:
“Seemingly incapable...
Why Biden’s plan to help make housing affordable will make it more expensive
Because the 2020 election was largely a referendum on President Donald Trump, many of Joe Biden’s policy proposals have been overlooked until now. The recent announcement of some of his cabinet picks shows that...
Community opposition to multifamily
Overcoming community resistance to multifamily development
Community opposition to multifamily has become one of the top barriers to construction of accessible, sustainable housing in America. But there are strategies developers can use to build political...
The cost of inaction
Most of us share a common trait: We are “housers.” We understand the foundational importance of the home.
Our homes, of course, meet a basic need—shelter. But our homes can and should also provide stability...
The one issue every economist can agree is bad: Rent control
But there are a few questions where there’s near unanimity, and rent control is one of them. Pretty much every economist agrees that rent controls are bad. And in the last decades of the...
Nation in lockdown
I live in California, whose governor, Gavin Newsom, in March issued Executive Order N-33-20. The order requires Californians to shelter at home unless they are involved in any of 16 different infrastructure sectors—or seeking...
Government must step in to prevent rental housing shortage
Rents are starting to rise dramatically and in every major metropolitan area are expected to rise from 3 percent to 10 percent in 2011 and beyond. That means a family paying $1,700 a month...
Death and taxes
If you're planning on dying soon, you might want to hurry up. It's that other certainty of life you'll want to watch out for. The estate tax, which taxes the inheritance you pass on...
The death of the small apartment building
Developers in the U.S. built 358,000 units of new multifamily housing in 2017. That’s less than half the number of single-family homes built last year, but the gap between the two has narrowed a...
Sec. Ben Carson’s approach to affordable housing might work
The new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, aims to succeed where the Obama administration failed. Carson’s department intends to revise one of the landmark housing policies implemented by the Obama administration,...
