jt

[Armand Domalewski @ArmandDoma]

San Francisco only built 405 homes so far this year and yet there are vast amounts of people in our fair city convinced that this is way, way, way too much https://t.co/6AIROfH4Mt

[Kim-Mai Cutler @kimmaicutler]

Guess what happened to SF permitting and production after Jane Kim and Aaron Peskin raised inclusionary rates to 25%+ in 2017?

[jt @dopenessmaxxer]

@96hoya I think that because new apartments are only allowed to be built on corridors, people see them more and think 'wow they're building so many new apartments!' To the NIMBY mind, this proves that SF (or any city) is building enough/excessive housing.

[Alex Armlovich @aarmlovi]

Remember when people said NYC YIMBYs were being duped--that Zohran didn't really believe in zoning & permitting reform; didn't understand the 1961 downzoning; favored only short-term relief; & wouldn't evangelize the long-term relief that only supply solutions offer?

Enjoy 👇

[Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler]

Thanks to @Scott_Wiener’s landmark Senate Bill 35, this project skipped San Francisco’s famously Byzantine permit process and got approved in a matter of weeks, not years.

Without SB 35, these 160 affordable homes would still be an abandoned McDonald’s tied up in NIMBY lawsuits.

[Jonathan Berk @berkie1]

In 2020, Portland legalized middle housing on most residential lots.

1,400+ units have been built, averaging $300,000 less than a single-family in the same neighborhood.

Massachusetts needs reforms like this if we want the next generation to be able to set down roots here.

[Andy Boenau @Boenau]

This will always be funny.

[Chris Elmendorf @CSElmendorf]

Some have speculated that IZ may increase housing production by making voters more accepting of new development. See @zoningwonk, @gustavofnovoa & @TMendelberg's recent work (next tweet).

This paper ⤵️ provides strong evidence against that conjecture.

1/2

[Jonathan Berk @berkie1]

We've spent years reforming zoning.

Now it's time to take a hard look at building codes.

A new @BosIndicators / @Harvard_JCHS report finds many code provisions were written for a different era. Updating them can reduce costs while maintaining safety & expanding housing choices.

[Adam Mayer @AdamNMayer]

Everyone loves blaming “architects” for America’s bland, soulless buildings.

Try sitting through one meeting with your local planning department or building inspector, and you’ll realize who’s actually designing the city.

[Jen Fox @jenfox54]

Building homes in SF just got easier

This new ordinance
• eliminates inclusionary mandates for small projects (like row homes + small apartments)
• reduces the mandate for big (25+ unit) projects
• cuts impact fees

@DanielLurie + YIMBY leaders are cutting red tape

[Michael Wiebe @michael_wiebe]

A common argument is that rising land values are a cause of higher housing prices.

This is true for some contexts, but false in others. Let me explain.

1/

[Jonathan Berk @berkie1]

The Northeast is home to some of the largest minimum lot size requirements in the United States, limiting where homes can be built and driving up housing costs.

[YIMBYLAND @YIMBYLAND]

There is no such thing as a high-permitting, high-cost city.

If you have demand and you aren’t permit-maxxing, you’re rent-maxxing.

[sam @sam_d_1995]

NYC literally just approved more homes *today* than San Francisco built all of last year lmao

[Will Poff-Webster @willpoffwebster]

The first major federal housing package in 30 years is now law. It combines over 50 bills, and puts the federal government on the side of legalizing housing:

1. Cuts some federal funding from expensive places that don't allow housing and gives it to places that do. The first federal carrots and sticks tied to housing results!

2. Removes the requirement for a metal chassis from manufactured housing, saving ~$5-10K per home and making multifamily manufactured housing possible

3. Rewards zoning reform with grants to support schools, sewers, and other needs

4. Rewards cities that create preapproved building plans so builders can build without delay

5. Federal guidelines for single-stair buildings (!)

6. Federal guidelines for zoning reform

7. Exempts infill and other low-impact housing from environmental review

8. Makes it easier for HUD to get money out the door after disasters without months of rulemaking

9. Ends duplicate inspections for housing funded by multiple federal programs

10. Updates the HOME program to remove blockers for federally-funded affordable housing

11. Creates grants to repair old housing stock

12. Allows banks to invest in more affordable housing

13. Streamlines rehab of old public housing buildings and adding mixed-income homes

14. Encourages financing changes to enable modular housing that lowers construction costs

15. Requires databases of local publicly-owned land that could be used for housing

16. Preserves build-to-rent homebuilding

...plus 42 other sections, most a labor of love from a staffer and their boss trying to tackle the largest cost Americans face each month

[constans @constans]

Cities that have banned algorithmic pricing have seen rents go up. I think it’s pretty clear algorithmic pricing caused lower rents. Where’s RealPage’s apology ?

[sam @sam_d_1995]

Elon’s DOGE: recklessly fires critical government employees and has to rehire many of them, kills hundreds of thousands of people, saves almost no money

Zohran’s COGE: makes it easier to build housing and transit, helps small businesses, modernizes hiring practices

[Alex Armlovich @aarmlovi]

Abundance doesn't mean "centrism"

Abundance vs. degrowth is perpendicular to left vs right!

Zohran & Nithya: Abundance Left
NJR & Kate Willett: Degrowth Left

Auchincloss: Abundance mod
Karen Bass: Degrowth mod

MT legislature: Abundance Right
NY Assembly: Degrowth Right

[Armand Domalewski @ArmandDoma]

one of the lowest vacancy rates in America and yet people are still obsessed with the idea we don't need to build new homes because developers are just intentionally keeping them empty because something something tax write off something something