There's no such thing as a "no growth" community
Every city has one of three futures: A growing housing stock, growing housing prices , or stagnation and decline.
Best Of
If you are new here, start with these 30 posts.
“Why do you spend your time advocating for expensive market-rate housing?”
So many groups and individuals need more people fighting on their behalf — why spend your time advocating for housing that only rich people can afford? Lots of reasons that have nothing to do with making rich people’s lives easier, as it turns out.
Blueprint for building a shared-equity rental market
With government-chartered regional housing cooperatives and access to attractive federal financing, we could transform the rental market to provide renters with greater wealth, stability, and flexibility.
How to build more homes while prioritizing equity in Los Angeles
Upzone the Westside and strengthen tenant protections everywhere.
Why we shouldn't apply "value capture" to parking reform
There’s a debate happening right now over whether to apply “value capture” to a statewide parking reform bill — California State Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s AB 1401 . As someone who supports value capture in the context of upzoning, and advocates strongly for it in my book, The Affordable City ,
What Housing Policies Should Angelenos Be Advocating For, Post-Measure S?
Measure S won't fix the affordable housing crisis. When the vote is over, win or lose, what can we do that will actually move the needle?
Los Angeles Voters, Here Are All the Reasons You Should Be Voting NO on Measure S on March 7th
Bear with me; there are a lot of them.
1,300 More Affordable Homes—Mostly in Downtown LA—That Won't Be Built if Measure S Passes
In just the past three weeks, 1,300 homes for low-income residents and the formerly homeless were proposed in Los Angeles. Measure S would block them all.
List of Housing Projects That Would Be Banned by Measure S — 19,000 Units And Counting...
At least 19,000 desperately-needed homes, including thousands of affordable units, could not be built if Measure S passes in the March 7th Los Angeles election.
Top 7 Reasons to Oppose Measure S, the Los Angeles "Neighborhood Integrity Initiative"
Measure S is an ego trip masquerading as a social justice crusade. It's the Donald Trump of ballot initiatives, and these are 7 of the most important reasons that Los Angeles can't allow it to pass.
We Should Demand More Housing and Greater Flexibility From the DTLA 2040 Community Plan Update
The city has put together an early draft of its proposal for the DTLA 2040 Community Plan update. It doesn't go far enough, and I think we can do better.
Ballot Initiative Voter Guide: California, LA County, and the Cities of Los Angeles and Santa Monica
Analysis and recommendations for all 17 California ballot initiatives, along with some local ones in LA County, the City of Los Angeles, and Santa Monica.
Rent Stability, Part 1: The Limits of Rent Stabilization In Los Angeles
Stabilized rents are not synonymous with affordable rents.
Rent Stability, Part 2: How "Rolling" Rent Stabilization Might Preserve Affordability in LA
Right now rent stabilization applies to multifamily housing built before 1979. Instead, we should consider a "rolling" threshold that includes all buildings over 30 years old.
We Paved Over Farmland to Build the Suburbs; Now Those Neighborhoods Are Off-Limits to Any More Development
" The reason for the history lesson is: We paved over the orchards to make way for the Baby Boomers, and now the Boomers are fighting with Millennials who want to turn one-story strip malls into four-story apartments."
Population Forecasts and Housing Allocations Don't Work; We Should Replace Them With Vacancy Targets
Forecasts rarely pan out, yet they're a foundation of the planning process. Instead, we should plan around something we can measure in real time: vacancy rates.
Hard Work Is Taxed, Passive Accumulation of Housing Wealth Is Not
When you get a raise, a lot of that new income is taxed away. When your home doubles in value, you can pretty much keep it all.
Another Benefit of a Non-Profit Housing Acquisition Program: Tenant Mobility
Along with its many other benefits, a non-profit acquisition-based affordable housing program could also increase tenant mobility.
Renter Opposition to New Housing Isn't About Keeping LA Affordable, It's About Self-Preservation (And That's Okay)
Apartment tenants at risk of displacement have good reason to oppose new development. Instead of demonizing them, we should be helping them.
What Will It Take to Get Pro-Housing and Anti-Displacement Advocates on the Same Side?
We share the same goals, but our focuses differ. Can we reconcile our differences and come together?
No, Developers Are Not Tearing Down Los Angeles to Build Half-Empty Luxury Apartment Buildings
Opposing new development because it requires demolition of some rent-controlled units is shortsighted, and overlooks the many real affordability solutions available to us.
Private Development, Public/Non-Profit Ownership: Recipe For Long-Term Housing Affordability
Using affordable housing funds to acquire existing buildings is less expensive and more sustainable than using them to subsidize new units, and would be accompanied by numerous other benefits to the housing market and low-income residents.
Maybe We Should Re-Frame the California Density Bonus as a "Market-Rate Penalty"
A little bit of behavioral economics might help us get more affordable housing out of the state's density bonus law.
Keep Los Angeles Affordable by Repealing Proposition U
Proposition U froze our commercial corridors in time and contributed to our affordability crisis. Repealing it may be the best thing we can do to heal the wounds of the past.
The Disconnect Between Liberal Aspirations and Liberal Housing Policy is Killing Coastal U.S. Cities
We're pro-environment but anti-density, pro-immigration but anti-migration, and pro-equity but anti-housing. Our ideology is completely detached from our policy outcomes, and its killing our cities.
Top 7 Reasons to Oppose Measure S, the "Los Angeles Neighborhood Integrity Initiative"
The Neighborhood Integrity Initiative is an ego trip masquerading as a social justice crusade. It's the Donald Trump of ballot initiatives, and these are 7 of the most important reasons that Los Angeles can't allow it to pass.
How to Pay For the Los Angeles Homeless Strategy
Eliminating homelessness is an expensive proposition, but we can pay for the great majority of it by simply redirecting money that's already being spent inefficiently on treating homeless individuals on the street.
Mapped: All 200 Square Miles of Parking in LA County, As One Giant Parking Lot
What if you took all 200 square miles of parking in Los Angeles County and turned it into one giant parking lot? This map puts into perspective how much space we waste on car storage in LA, and around the country.
Prop 13, Part 2: How to Fix California's Broken Property Tax Law
Prop 13 is considered the "third rail" of California politics, but that may be changing. Here's one idea for how to shift the politics and fix many of the worst impacts of the law, while still preserving its protections for low-income homeowners.
Prop 13, Part 1: California's Property Tax Law is Completely Broken
Proposition 13 is a citizen's initiative passed in California 1978, and to this day it continues to squeeze the state's housing market and primarily benefit older, whiter, longer-term residents at the expense of everyone else.
