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May 9, 2024

State Housing Bills Are Dead; Time for Local Leaders to Step Up

While two statewide bills in Minnesota that would allow for missing middle housing everywhere and more dense housing in commercial zones have stalled, local officials remain acutely aware of housing affordability issues. Fortunately, they do not need to wait to take effective and immediate action. Many cities have traditionally been laser-focused on economic growth, while adding…

April 8, 2024

Accountability Comes to Public Housing

With little fanfare, the impossible just happened at the Hope Gardens public housing project in Bushwick: the management got fired. Repairs to the project’s high rises and townhouses had been delayed, and, per an official notice, “cost-saving measures to curb ballooning controllable operating expenses” hadn’t been adopted. Such lack of foresight constitutes a typical day…

March 21, 2024

It’s Not Just Minority Neighborhoods—NYC’s Entire Property-Tax System Needs Reform

There is good reason to conclude, as the state Court of Appeals did Tuesday, that New York City’s property-tax system leads to disproportionately high tax bills for minority homeowners. But those high taxes aren’t the result of discrimination; they’re just one example of a dysfunctional tax-assessment system that burdens homeowners and discourages new housing construction —…

March 14, 2024

A Crucial Fix For Rent Regulation

Housing legislation has moved to center stage in Albany, with proposals to provide aid for everything from granny flats to new, subsidized construction on the table. But one especially surprising, common-sense change in the state’s rent regulation appears to be attracting bipartisan support. A state Senate plan would permit up to 6% rent increases following major capital…

March 8, 2024

State of the Union – Biden’s Housing Proposals Would be Harmful, Not Helpful

President Biden in his State of the Union pitched a raft of proposals with the stated purpose of lowering costs for homebuyers and increasing the supply of rental units.  As has been the case with dozens of housing acts passed by Congress over the last 75 years, hold onto your wallet when the federal government says it…

February 23, 2024

After Milton’s MBTA Housing Defeat, The Way Forward Is With Persuasion, Not Mandates

It’s difficult to avoid seeing Milton’s referendum defeat of a proposed zoning law to permit higher-density housing construction as a signal setback for the state’s effort to pressure towns to make housing more affordable. There’s no getting around the importance of that effort. High housing prices not only burden current Bay State residents but act as a…

February 6, 2024

NYCHA Corruption Means It’s Time To Privatize

We already knew the New York City Housing Authority is the city’s biggest slumlord. Now we’re reminded it’s a corrupt slumlord. Just five years after a federal court found its employees had lied about a vital public-health matter — conducting lead-paint inspections of apartments — we learn NYCHA supervisors solicited bribes in exchange for no-bid repair contracts. US Attorney…

January 4, 2024

To Fix Their Housing Shortage in 2024, Cities and States Should Turn To Market

States and cities considering housing supply reforms in the new year to combat worsening affordability should unleash the free market rather than rely on the Department for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulatory solutions. HUD’s recommendations tilt towards heavy-handed government interventions that lack thorough analysis and proven results. A particularly egregious example is HUD’s latest assessment of…

December 31, 2023

Forget Eric Adams’ Flawed Housing Plan — Let’s Make ALL NYC Neighborhoods “High-Opportunity”

New York City residents are facing the ill-effects of drastic, across-the-board budget cuts affecting the most basic city services. It would hardly seem to be the right time for the Adams administration to undertake an expensive new housing program with the city’s own funds. Yet that’s exactly what the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced last week….

December 21, 2023

Our Policies to Address Homelessness Are Failing

Official data released last Friday show that 2023 was the worst year ever recorded for homelessness, and it’s not even close. The 12 percent rise in homelessness quadrupled the previous record for a single-year increase. Our homeless population is now the largest it has ever been. Policy-makers must wake up to this national crisis. Our…