News and Commentary
In an opinion article for The Regulatory Review, Hannah Kass writes on the vast racial inequities in land ownership in the US. Today, white Americans own nearly all the nation’s farmland. Historically, discriminatory behavior in the management of government-owned land has been typical. During the covid-19 pandemic, however, legislation was passed to provide debt relief to non-white farmers. Kass also points to the proposed Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2020 as a useful tool to alleviate racial inequities in farming. Kass provides other policy solutions as well, including a federal land trust program, a federal land tax, and a law to abolish land speculation.
In a post at Urban Turf, the authors discuss a new report detailing the massive decline in residential construction over the past two decades. To alleviate this problem, “the report calls for expanding the tax credit program for low-income and offering incentives to reduce regulatory limits on housing density.”
In an article for Greater Greater Washington, Libby Solomon covers Amazon’s recent announcement that it intends to employ capital toward the development of affordable housing near stations in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area.
In an article for Vox, Jerusalem Demsas writes on the recent controversy over Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, and its increasing purchases of single family homes. Demsas argues that Blackrock and wall-street overall are not responsible for the US’s chaotic housing market characterized by high prices and low supply.
In a post in SlowBoring, Matt Yglesias makes the case for tall buildings. Matt discusses various types of residential buildings and why some may cost more than others. He also discusses the tradeoff between the efficiency associated with tall buildings and their constructions costs. Matt also argues that, in a post pandemic world with more flexible work schedules, the burden increased density might place on public transit is less concerning.
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