June 26, 2025
Does Building Light-Touch Density Housing Lower Single-Family Home Values? Evidence from Seattle, WA and Charlotte, NC
Summary: Opponents of Light-touch Density (LTD) infill argue that it will lead to outright home price declines or, at the very least, slower home price appreciation (HPA). However, evidence from Charlotte and Seattle shows that the construction of LTD housing—such as duplexes and townhomes—does not adversely impact HPA of single-family detached (SFD) homes in the…
June 24, 2025
Public Housing and Rental Subsidies
Since the 1930s, the federal government has subsidized local housing projects aimed at uplifting the poor. The specific policies have evolved, but the theory has been that federal aid is needed because the states cannot solve their own housing problems and private markets fail to invest in affordable housing. Federal housing efforts are led by…
June 10, 2025
America’s Housing Supply Problem: The Closing of the Suburban Frontier?
Housing prices across much of America have hit historic highs, while less housing is being built. If the U.S. housing stock had expanded at the same rate from 2000-2020 as it did from 1980-2000, there would be 15 million more housing units. This paper analyzes the decline of America’s new housing supply, focusing on large…
May 7, 2025
Displacement by Design: How Bad Policy Made Housing Scarce, and How We Can Fix It
Musical chairs is one of the first games we play as children. The rules are simple: there are fewer chairs than players. When the music stops, someone ends up standing. Not necessarily because they weren’t fast enough—but because the game was designed for someone to lose. Now imagine blaming the child for losing. We question…
March 24, 2025
Tax Abatements: The Best-Kept Secret to Revitalizing Struggling Communities—Without Spending Taxpayer Money
A well-designed property tax abatement program can dramatically shift project economics by temporarily reducing tax burdens, making new housing development financially viable—without requiring government subsidies. Philadelphia’s 10-year tax abatement is a powerful example: a simple policy that helped reverse decades of decline by unlocking private investment and spurring the construction of tens of thousands of…
July 24, 2024
Housing and the American Worker
As the American Worker Project analysis shows, real wages have increased over time. Real wages are nominal wages corrected for changes in the price level, and a natural approach to understanding the way in which housing policy affects real wages is through (housing) prices. But the importance of housing to the economic well-being of the typical American…
May 7, 2024
How Zoning Policies Affect the Housing Supply: City of Denver Case Study
Summary:The City of Denver switched to a new zoning code in June 2010. Most areas were upzoned, but some were downzoned. Overall, the policy encouraged housing construction in Denver. Slide deck
May 6, 2024
Comments on the One Seattle Plan (Comp Plan)
Summary:1) Seattle has been underbuilding for the last decade (and likely even longer) and it needs to build more housing than the targets set in the comp plan.2) Seattle can legalize the building of more housing by embracing the lessons of its past and expanding on them. During the 1990s, Seattle upzoned parts of the…
March 27, 2024
Market-oriented Reform Principles and Policies that Would Help the Housing Market
Introduction: In this election year, Congress and the President are feeling the urge to help Americans affected by rising housing affordability pressures across the country. With the status-quo untenable, Congress and the President are itching to address housing affordability, availability, and other community needs. Before springing into action, our leaders need to first establish clear…
March 15, 2024
Housing Abundance with Light-Touch Density
Executive Summary: The following presentation on “Communication with Policymakers and Media – For the Win!” was presented at YIMBYtown 2024, covering how Light-touch Density is the key to achieving housing abundance. Light-touch Density, which involves moderately increasing density in areas zoned exclusively for single-family detached homes, can tailored be to the context of specific localities….