Jeff was an early stage employee at Lyft before moving to on-demand consumer logistics platform Postmates. Along the way, Jeff has become increasingly interested in urban economics and periodically contributes to housing reform efforts in the Bay Area through the region’s YIMBY organizations.
Jeff is a regular contributor to Market Urbanism where he writes about the ways in which markets, institutions, and technology are reshaping our cities. He also publishes political commentary at Tech for Housing.
Read Jeff’s contributions here.
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Market Urbanism
Liberalizing cities | From the bottom up
In a recent Mackinac Policy conference, Detroit’s Mayor Mike Dugan proposed *drum roll* a land value tax. Sort of. Mayor Dugan’s proposal would create separate tax rates for land and capital improvements (i.e. the buildings on top). Specifically, he wants to decrease the tax rate on buildings by ~30% and increase rates on land by […]
The post Detroit: LVT would fix that appeared first on Market Urbanism.
Arbitrary Lines is the newest must read book on zoning by land use scholar and Market Urbanism contributor, Nolan Gray. The book is split into three sections, starting with what zoning is and where it comes from followed by chapters on its varied negative effects, and ending with recommendations for reform. For even deep in […]
The post Book Review: Arbitrary Lines – How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It appeared first on Market Urbanism.
Georgists assert that a Land Value Tax (LVT) ensures land is always put to its most efficient use. They claim that increased carrying costs deter speculation. And if valuable land is never held out of use, society is better off. I think the story about incentives is correct. But I question whether pulling development forward […]
The post Land Value Taxation and Intertemporal Tradeoffs appeared first on Market Urbanism.
Discussions about land use reform focus on policy – as they should. Overcoming NIMBYism will require deep legal, political, and regulatory reform. That said, entrepreneurs may be helping to short circuit the perverse incentives that give rise to NIMBYism in the first place. New companies may be encouraging homeowners to embrace density and helping to […]
The post Entrepreneurs and the Changing Political Economy of Housing appeared first on Market Urbanism.
After over a century, Berkeley, California may be about to legalize missing middle housing – and it’s not alone. Bids to re-legalize gradual densification in the form of duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and the like have begun to pick up steam over the last several years. In 2019, Oregon legalized these housing types statewide while Minneapolis […]
The post The Duplex: Gateway Drug to Urban Density appeared first on Market Urbanism.
Current events being what they are, I’m happy to be writing about something positive. Once again, we’re getting an ambitious housing reform package in the California legislature. The various bills focus on removing obstacles to new housing and are a sign of the growing momentum Yimby activists have built up over the last few years. […]
The post California Housing Reform: 2021 Edition appeared first on Market Urbanism.
Anti poverty programs have been taking center stage as the 2020 Democratic primary heats up. Proposals from Kamala Harris and Corey Booker target high housing costs for renters and make for an interesting set of ideas. These plans, however, have major shortcomings and fail to address the fundamental problem of supply constraints in high cost […]
The post Democratic Candidates on Housing appeared first on Market Urbanism.
Five years ago everything in California felt like a giant (land use policy) dumpster fire. Fast forward to today we live in a completely different world. Yimby activists have pushed policy, swayed elections, and dramatically shifted the overton window on California housing policy. And through this process of pushing change, Yimbyism itself has evolved as […]
The post Yimbyism: The Evolution of an Idea appeared first on Market Urbanism.