Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Closer

Can Biden help housing? White House solution isn’t nearly enough.

At one time or another, every politician—local, state, and federal—promises to help create “affordable housing.” The issue has become especially critical of late with rents and housing prices rising and higher interest rates making...

Vacant apartments come from bad policy, not a conspiracy

On Halloween, 2022, some elected officials held a performative press conference to talk about “Zombie Apartments.” They claim property owners are engaging in a mass conspiracy to keep rent-stabilized apartments vacant in an attempt...

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...

Corporate greed isn’t driving inflation

Inflation has reached its highest level in nearly 40 years, and everyone is looking for answers. Before fiscal and monetary authorities can muster a policy response, we need to understand what is causing inflation....

Fusion wariness

Livermore National Laboratory’s announcement is certainly a breakthrough, but it’s a commercially limited one. Nuclear fusion has long been hailed as the next great energy source, capable of providing nearly limitless power without the...

Senate Bill 1217 makes first round, applauded by NMHC and NAA

The vote passed 13-9, which is one more vote than senators said they had during the first mark-up on April 29, when they decided to delay the bill in an effort to build a...

Our perception of skilled trades needs to change

The U.S. is in the midst of a crisis of masculinity. According to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, men without four-year college degrees, ages 25 to 54, have left...

Money for nothing

In 1985, British rock band Dire Straits complained, “They ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it; Money for nothing and your chicks for free.” The lyrics criticized the excesses of nouveau riche rock...

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...

When Washington bureaucrats hold the reins of power

The Biden administration was in a box in late July. They desperately wanted to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s controversial eviction moratorium. But the judicial writing was on the wall. They...

The day the leasing office died

The landlord selected an apartment for the prospect, that is, as soon as the results of the leasing application and credit screening were deemed acceptable. An obedient tenant could sit and wait for the...

Time to restore local control over zoning—and end Obama’s HUD intrusion

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing allowed HUD to halt distribution of more than $3 billion of annual community development block grants to about 1,200 counties and cities unless the recipients abide by federal dictates on...

The new housing problem facing low-income renters

There’s a new problem facing low-income individuals seeking affordable housing: Even if they have a housing choice voucher to subsidize rents in the private market, landlords do not want to accept voucher tenants. A...

Providers of single-family rental homes are an important part of America’s housing ecosystem

President Biden’s release in May of a “Housing Supply Action Plan” represents a commendable effort to bring much needed quality, affordably-priced housing to communities throughout the country. In taking steps to “ease the burden...

Challenging Disparate Impact

“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without...
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