What City Observatory did this week 1. Why don’t we have a powerful federal agency who can pre-empt local laws that drive up housing costs? Last week, the Federal Communications Commission took action that invalidated a City Of Philadelphia ordinance that…
Distrust and empowering everyone to equally be a NIMBY is a recipe for perpetual housing problems The recent defeat of SB 827–California State Senator Scott Wiener’s bill that would have legalized apartment construction in area’s well served by transit–was the…
A powerful federal agency can override local laws limiting access to TV. But housing? Nope. Local control. It’s the bedrock principle of land use planning. Cities and neighborhoods should have absolute control over the kinds of buildings that get built…
What City Observatory did this week 1. Gerontopoly: Is homeownership a sure route to building wealth? It has been in the US, but increasingly, its only working for older generations. Homeowners 55 and older now hold most of all of…
Zillow’s data tracking prices of tens of millions of US homes adds further confirmation to the Dow of Cities For some time, we’ve been talking about the Dow of Cities: the notion that the price premium that urban homes command…