No Muslims In My Backyard?
Plus: Kamala Harris doubles down on rent control, Gavin Newsom issues a new executive order on housing, and the natural tendency to keep adding more regulation.
Rent control
Biden's Badly Flawed New Housing Plan
It combines nationwide rent control with modest supply-side measures potentially freeing up "underutilized" federal property for housing construction.
Joe Biden Loves Rent Control, J.D. Vance Hates BlackRock
Republicans and Democrats have both managed to get worse on housing policy in the past week.
Gorsuch Apes NIMBY Government Lies in Supreme Court's Grants Pass Decision
Plus: A disappointing first round of "Baby YIMBY" grant awards, President Joe Biden endorses rent control, and House Republicans propose cutting housing spending.
New York Cuts Real Rents at Rent-Stabilized Apartments
The city's Rent Guidelines Board approved a nominal 2.75 rent increase for one million rent-stabilized apartments. That's below the year's 3.3 percent inflation rate.
The Rise of the Bedroom Counters
Plus: The results of rent control are in, California's tiny home program gets minimal results, and yet another city eyes a crackdown on short-term rentals.
No, Politicians Can't 'Fix' Prices—and That's OK
Price controls lead to the misallocation of resources, shortages, diminished product quality, and black markets.
Rent Control Remains the Wrong Solution to Housing Woes
Restricting the price of housing kills incentives to supply places to live.
California Is Trying To Drive Landlords Out of Business
Which is bad news for anyone hoping to rent a place to live.
Birth of a YIMBY Folk Hero
Plus: The White House's rent controls, San Francisco's bad-to-worse turn on housing, and the latest unintended consequence of eviction moratoriums
After Supreme Court Denies Cases, Clarence Thomas Offers Hope to Rent Control Critics
Thomas agreed with the Court's decision to not take up two challenges to New York's rent stabilization law but said the constitutionality of rent control "is an important and pressing question."
Good Times, Bad Times: Eviction Edition
Plus: Voters in Massachusetts reject state-mandated upzonings, Florida localities rebel against a surprisingly effective YIMBY reform, and lawsuits target missing middle housing in Virginia.
New York, New York
Plus: rent control behind financial problems at NYCB, public housing's corruption problem, and New York City's near-zero vacancy rate.
Argentina, Once One of the Richest Countries, Is Now One of the Poorest. Javier Milei Could Help Fix That.
The new libertarian president believes in free markets and the rule of law. When people have those things, prosperity happens.
The 2 Reasons California's YIMBY Reforms Are Failing
Plus: Ohio church sues the city trying to shut down its homeless services, another indigenous-owned megaproject approved in Vancouver, B.C., and a new report shows rapidly deteriorating housing affordability.
Zoning Board Orders Longtime Tenants' Homes Dismantled
Plus: the Supreme Court weighs housing fees and homelessness, YIMBYs bet on smaller, more focused reforms, and a new paper finds legalizing more housing does in fact bring costs down.
Rent Control for the Rich
Plus: Fort Collins tries passing zoning reform for the third time, Coastal California cracks down on Airbnbs, and state lawmakers try to unban rent control.
Court's Wild Zoning Decision Blocks 'Montana Miracle'
Plus: More local "missing middle" reforms pass in Maine and Virginia, Colorado court blesses crackdown on student housing, and Florida tries to escape its slow growth past.
San Francisco's Can-Kicking on Zoning Reform Could See It Lose All Zoning Powers
Plus: the U.S. Justice Department says zoning restrictions on a church's soup kitchen are likely illegal, more cities pass middle housing reforms, and California gears up for another rent control fight.
The Best Hope to Rein in Rent Control Is Lurking on the Supreme Court's Docket
The U.S. Supreme Court keeps putting off deciding whether to take up a challenge to New York's rent control scheme.
The Hidden Failures of Social Housing in 'Red Vienna'
A new report details how the city's famed social housing system is suffering from diminishing affordability, deteriorating quality, and funding shortfalls.
Judge Rules Minneapolis' Zoning Reforms Are Getting Too Much Housing Built
Plus: Political campaigns will have to disclose if they use AI in their ads, the effort to rehabilitate rent control rumbles on, and more...
Study: San Francisco Rent Control Expansion Led to More Evictions
A new study from researchers at Northwestern University found that landlords were incentivized by rising rents to replace existing tenants with new market-rate-paying tenants.
Rent Control 2.0 Looks a Lot Like Rent Control 1.0
Rent control is getting a rhetorical makeover from progressive policy makers.
New York City Orders Inflation-Adjusted Rent Cuts at Rent-Stabilized Buildings
The country's largest legacy rent-control policy is pushing building owners to the breaking point.
Portland, Maine, Will Vote on Whether To Roll Back the City's Socialist Housing Policy Revolution
Today, voters will consider a citizen petition that would let landlords raise rents to market rates on vacant units.
Don't Buy the Social Housing Hype
Cities become affordable when they build a lot of housing, not when they subsidize it.
Economists Are Right To Hate Rent Control
Progressives like to argue that rent control policies that exempt new construction don't impact the construction of new housing.
DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Rent Control, Preempting Local Zoning Restrictions
The new law would allow developers to build housing on commercially zoned lots provided they include affordable units.
New York Lawmakers Could Pass the Nation's Strictest State-Level Rent Control Law by the End of the Week
A controversial "good cause" eviction bill that would cap rent increases could be included in a budget bill that must pass by April 1.
The One-Way Rent Control Ratchet
The allegedly smart balance "anti-rent gouging" policies have struck between supply and stability is already unraveling.
Ex-Lawmakers, Socialist City Councilmember Fight Putting New Housing on Shuttered Denver Golf Course
An oddball coalition of neighborhood activists and left-wing politicians have opposed plans to convert the privately owned site to housing, citing the loss of open space and impacts on gentrification.
Colorado Is the Latest State To Consider Rent Control
Plus: The U.S. Supreme Court considers another internet free speech case, the Department of Transportation pushes expensive new rail regs, and more...
Massachusetts Voters Ended Rent Control Decades Ago. Boston's Mayor Wants To Bring It Back.
The city's old-school rent control scheme worsened housing quality but had no effect on housing supply. Mayor Michelle Wu's new rent control law will likely have the opposite effect.
Joe Biden, Travel Agent in Chief
Plus: Bill would make all social media platforms check IDs, appeals court rejects rent control challenge, and more...
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Rent Control Challenge, Says Government Has Wide Powers To Regulate Land Use
The 2nd Circuit reasoned that the government hasn't necessarily taken a landlord's property when it forces him or her to operate at a loss while renting to a tenant he or she never agreed to host.
The Biden Administration Flirts With Imposing Nationwide Rent Control Via Executive Action
The White House's idea of using Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to adopt rent control faces numerous legal and practical hurdles.
Elizabeth Warren, Jamaal Bowman Want To Give Lina Khan the Power To Impose Rent Control on the Whole Country
Warren and fellow progressive Democrats have asked President Joe Biden to use the FTC, HUD, or maybe the FHFA to impose nationwide rent control.
Landlords Sue Over City-Mandated 15 Percent Rent Cut
Property owners in Kingston, New York, argue the city is vastly underestimating its vacancy rate in order to justify ruinous rent cuts.
Rent Control Is Up for a Vote This Year. Its Effects Aren't.
Voters in Orange County, Florida, and Pasadena, California, will vote on ballot initiatives that cap rent increases at, or below, inflation.
The Nation's Worst Rent Control Law Gets a Few Moderating Fixes
The St. Paul City Council passed a series of amendments to a voter-passed rent stabilization ordinance that exempt new construction and make it easier for landlords to factor inflation into rent increases.
Study: New York City Apartments Being 'Defunded' by High Inflation, Rent Caps
A new report from The Community Housing Improvement Program argues that allowable rent hikes in rent-stabilized buildings cover less than half the increase in operating costs.
Lawsuit: Orlando Rent Control Proposal Is Illegal
Florida landlords and realtors argue that Orange County is abusing its emergency powers.
Great Moments in Unintended Consequences: Rent Control, Arizona Alt Fuel, Ballot Access (Vol. 8)
Good intentions, bad results.
San Francisco Legalizes 'Missing Middle' Housing in the Worst Way Possible
Property owners can now build fourplexes in San Francisco, but only if they've owned the land for five years, place the new units under rent control, and don't try to make them much larger than a single-family home.
Is the Nation's Harshest Rent Control Law Unconstitutional, or Just Counterproductive?
Two St. Paul, Minnesota, landlords claim that the city's restrictions on rent increases above 3 percent amounts to a taking of their property without due process or compensation.
What John Oliver Gets Wrong About Rising Rents
The comedian largely ignores laws against new supply while arguing we should declare housing a federally funded, government-provided human right.
