Rent Check
A year after its predecessor died in committee, California’s SB 50 passed two committees. In order to garner enough votes, it combined with another bill, SB 4, a similar bill that applies to a smaller number of municipalities than the original SB 50.
News and Commentary
Joe Cortright explains a common misconception about housing affordability. The frequently cited standard that 30 percent of income is the appropriate target for affordable housing forgets to incorporate the transportation costs connected to housing.
Amy Liu and Nathan Arnosti write in the New York Times to explain that the best way to revitalize forgotten parts of America is to further urbanize small towns.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced she is planning on introducing a ballot initiative that would open up public land to be used for housing. The housing would be only affordable projects or teacher housing.
The House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing about the infrastructure needs of the country’s housing stock. The key topic was Chairman Maxine Waters’ “Housing is Infrastructure Act of 2019″, which would spend around $90 billion dollars on various housing projects and funds.
NYT’s Matthew Haag explains how building developers around Central Park have devised a workaround made possible by a flawed zoning law to build extra-high apartment buildings. Under law, building floors that are used exclusively for structural and mechanical equipment don’t count towards the height limits, so developers have been purposely putting in more of these floors to build higher buildings.
Loading...