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Liberalizing cities | From the bottom up

“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

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Market Affordable

April 30, 2024 By Salim Furth

Check out my new post at Metropolitan Abundance Project: How “inclusionary” are market-rate rentals? In metropolitan Baltimore, a family of four making $73,000 in 2024 qualifies for 60% AMI affordable housing, where it would pay $1,825 per month for rent, utilities included. A third of new … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, rent control Tagged With: affordability, affordable housing, housing market, inclusionary zoning

Xiaodi Li, Misunderstood

March 2, 2023 By Salim Furth

Max Holleran's book, Richard Schragger's law review article, and randos on Twitter all find pessimistic views on housing supply from a paper by Xiaodi Li. But the paper is asking a narrow question and yielding an optimistic answer. This post tries to provide some context. EDITED 3/3: I've edited … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, Urban[ism] Legends Tagged With: housing market, neighborhood, New York City

Why rents aren’t keeping up with house prices

March 3, 2021 By Tom Spencer

Global house prices have been out of control for quite some time. This has helped to reduce economic growth, increase unemployment and was even diagnosed as the greatest cause of inequality in the developed world in a 2016 paper by Matthew Rognlie. However, rents have failed to show the same … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, housing, planning, Uncategorized Tagged With: Economics, housing market, YIMBYism

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

July 12, 2017 By Jeff Fong

Richard Rothstein’s “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” should be required reading for YIMBYs and urbanists of any ideological stripe. Rothstein argues that housing segregation in the US has been the intentional outcome of policy decisions made at every … [Read more...]

Filed Under: history, housing, Law, Policy, Uncategorized Tagged With: history, housing market, segregation

The “Empty House” Theory

May 26, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

One common argument against new urban housing runs as follows: "If we build new housing, it will all be bought up by rich investors who will sit on it.  So new supply doesn't restrain housing costs."  This argument (at least as I have phrased it) strikes me as absurd.  Here's why: for the argument … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, NIMBYism, Urban[ism] Legends Tagged With: housing crisis, housing market

Home-Sharing and Housing Supply

September 12, 2016 By Michael Lewyn

One common argument against Airbnb and other home-sharing companies is that they reduce housing supply by taking housing units off the long-term market.* As I have written elsewhere, I don't think home-sharing affects housing supply enough to matter.  But even leaving aside the empirical question of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, Zoning Tagged With: airbnb, housing market, prices, zoning

How to Fix San Francisco’s Housing Market

January 26, 2015 By Jeff Fong

Want to live in San Francisco? No problem, that’ll be $3,000 (a month)--but only if you act fast. In the last two years, the the cost of housing in San Francisco has increased 47% and shows no signs of stopping. Longtime residents find themselves priced out of town, the most vulnerable of whom … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, housing, planning, Policy, rent control, sprawl, Zoning Tagged With: affordable housing, Bay Area, gentrification, housing market, housing vouchers, land value tax, San Francisco

Rent Control Part 4: Conclusion and Solutions

June 1, 2008 By Adam Hengels

Welcome to the final post in the series discussing the consequences of rent control. Thank you to the subscribers who have patiently awaited each new post. I hope everyone found it enlightening. If you haven't read the entire series, you can catch up with these links: Rent Control Part One: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: rent control, Zoning Tagged With: affordability, affordable housing, California, Chicago, development, Economics, exclusionary zoning, FAR, Free-market, government, homeowners, housing, housing market, landlord, LIHTC, politics, property rights, property taxes, proposition 98, rent control, rent regulation, rent stabilization, taxes, tenant, Vacancy, vacancy decontrol, vouchers, zoning

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