Proposition 33 opens the door to abuse and misuse of local rent control policies and permanently ties the hands of our elected representatives, and it does all this so that a small number of cities may expand their rent control policies in ways that will unequivocally worsen the state’s housing affordability crisis. It has very little upside, and its downsides are potentially limitless.
Read MoreThere's no such thing as a "no growth" community
Every city has one of three futures: A growing housing stock, growing housing prices, or stagnation and decline.
Read More“Why do you spend your time advocating for expensive market-rate housing?”
So many groups and individuals need more people fighting on their behalf — why spend your time advocating for housing that only rich people can afford? Lots of reasons that have nothing to do with making rich people’s lives easier, as it turns out.
Read MoreDon't expand Fire District 1. Eliminate it.
Expanding Fire District 1 would make it more expensive to build new homes, increase greenhouse gas emissions, and do nothing to improve safety.
Read MoreBlueprint for building a shared-equity rental market
With government-chartered regional housing cooperatives and access to attractive federal financing, we could transform the rental market to provide renters with greater wealth, stability, and flexibility.
Read MoreHow to build more homes while prioritizing equity in Los Angeles
Upzone the Westside and strengthen tenant protections everywhere.
Read MoreWhy we shouldn't apply "value capture" to parking reform
There’s a debate happening right now over whether to apply “value capture” to a statewide parking reform bill — California State Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s AB 1401. As someone who supports value capture in the context of upzoning, and advocates strongly for it in my book, The Affordable City, I wanted to weigh in. I believe it’s important to explain why parking reform is fundamentally different from other housing reforms, why it’s not amenable to value capture policies, and why I oppose value capture in this context.
Read MoreWhat Housing Boom? Housing units built each decade in the city of Los Angeles
LA’s “housing boom” is actually a continuation of three decades of very limited housing production.
Read MoreA "Rental Pension" Program to Compete with Homeownership
As a wealth-building, publicly-owned housing option, a rental pension program could offer all of the benefits of renting with many of the benefits of homeownership. It could also break the stranglehold that homeowners have on high-demand cities.
Read MoreWhy You Should Vote “Yes” on Proposition 15: Responses to Common Concerns
The costs of Prop 15 will be borne by commercial and industrial property owners, not businesses. It won’t discourage residential development and doesn’t apply to residential properties, including multifamily projects. And it makes future reform more likely, not less.
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