By planning decades into the future, built-out cities can create Central Park-style open spaces at minimum cost and with limited displacement.
Read MoreNo, Developers Are Not Tearing Down Los Angeles to Build Half-Empty Luxury Apartment Buildings
Opposing new development because it requires demolition of some rent-controlled units is shortsighted, and overlooks the many real affordability solutions available to us.
Read MorePrivate Development, Public/Non-Profit Ownership: Recipe For Long-Term Housing Affordability
Using affordable housing funds to acquire existing buildings is less expensive and more sustainable than using them to subsidize new units, and would be accompanied by numerous other benefits to the housing market and low-income residents.
Read MoreMaybe We Should Re-Frame the California Density Bonus as a "Market-Rate Penalty"
A little bit of behavioral economics might help us get more affordable housing out of the state's density bonus law.
Read MoreWhat Does Governor Brown's Proposed Housing Bill Mean For Affordability in California?
Governor Jerry Brown has a new plan to streamline the approval process for multifamily developments that include affordable housing. Here's what the bill actually says.
Read MoreKeep Los Angeles Affordable by Repealing Proposition U
Proposition U froze our commercial corridors in time and contributed to our affordability crisis. Repealing it may be the best thing we can do to heal the wounds of the past.
Read MoreThe Neighborhood Integrity Initiative is Lying to You
I've already written several articles about why the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative would be disastrous for the future of Los Angeles, but I think my opposition can be boiled down to one fact: The backers of this initiative are liars.
They'd like you to believe that they're fighting for the little guy, preserving affordable housing and sticking it to greedy developers and corrupt politicians. What they really want is to preserve their views and their parking at the expense of anyone unlucky enough to rent a home in our city, and to enshrine into law a 1950s vision of Los Angeles that is no longer sustainable—either environmentally, socially, or economically. By limiting the availability of new housing, they will enrich property owners by further impoverishing renters.
I wanted to convey that point as simply and clearly as possible, and the below image is my first effort at that. Share far and wide, if you would, and make sure that if this initiative goes to the ballot next March, you tell every damn person you know to vote against it.
Wait, Who's Greedy? Many LA Homes Going Up In Value More Than Average Angeleno's Annual Income
Are greedy developers responsible for Los Angeles' affordable housing crisis? Or greedy, misguided homeowners?
Read MoreIt's the Vacancy Rate, Stupid: Why New Development Has Little to Do With Rising Rents
If housing development is the cause of skyrocketing rents, why are no-growth communities like Venice and Brentwood increasing in value just as quickly as hot markets like downtown and Hollywood?
Read MoreThe Disconnect Between Liberal Aspirations and Liberal Housing Policy is Killing Coastal U.S. Cities
We're pro-environment but anti-density, pro-immigration but anti-migration, and pro-equity but anti-housing. Our ideology is completely detached from our policy outcomes, and its killing our cities.
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