Making Disparate Impact deliver fairness
HUD’s proposed revisions to our disparate-impact rule enhance our commitment to fairness for everyone.
Everyone agrees that discrimination has no place in society. But everyone also agrees that a city should be able to require...
Killing the electric car… again
The advent of plug-in cars, or "EVs," has been hyped-up beyond the fad level. There now may be 3,000 plug-in cars out of our national fleet of 300,000,000 oil-fired cars. Even under the most...
EPA’s back-room “Sue and Settle” deals require reform
Imagine, also, that the EPA and the Kochs then got a federal court to issue a decree ratifying the deal and giving it the force of law? The sun would not likely set on...
The rule of law
In that environment, people could invest and plan for the future without worry about having their wealth seized. They could also go about their lives without worrying that a government official might target them...
State of the multihousing union
As punditry is appropriately colorized by the perspective of the teller, our industry leaders may be the clearest sounding bell on how it affects not only to our own livelihoods, but the tipping point...
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...
Climate forecast: muting the alarm
The 2007 report was riddled with errors about Himalayan glaciers, the Amazon rain forest, African agriculture, water shortages and other matters, all of which erred in the direction of alarm. This led to a...
Government regulation that actually works
OSHA has a long history of being attacked from all sides. While some criticize it for being too lenient, others routinely refer to it as a job-killer whose regulations stifle job creation, increase labor...
Why free enterprise is about morals, not materialism
For years, we thought we had won. After all, almost no self-respecting public figures call themselves socialists anymore. With the advent of the New Democrats, even America's progressive party was on board with free...
Housing Bill deemed most significant in a generation
Significantly, the measure represents a balanced approach to housing policy by trimming home-ownership incentives, and balancing single- family incentives with expanded rental housing incentives.
Here are some highlights:
FHA foreclosure rescue
This creates a refinance program for...
A climate action plan for affordable multihousing
To reduce the deadly threat of climate disruption, it is essential to rein in polluting energy use, especially the wasteful conventional consumption of electricity in buildings. Currently, large multifamily residential buildings represent a huge...
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...
Restoring America’s exceptionalism
Regulatory relief and reform
To restore incentive and encourage growth we must reduce the regulatory burden on our economy. There is a place for regulations that ensure safety and soundness and protect people from danger,...
The madness of Capitol Hill’s kings
The bill is an economic disaster. It will destroy jobs and harm capital creation. Even in the best of times, such an act would be extremely hurtful to the economy. Under these circumstances, it's...
State of Multifamily Financing
With uncertainty about what the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will bring, mandatory reductions in their portfolios scheduled for 2010, and questions about the capability of FHA to handle greatly expanded loan...
