The median home price for California is more than $600,000—twice the national level.
Pluralistic: The housing crisis considered as an income crisis (24 Oct 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
A paradox: in 1970, everyday Americans found it relatively easy to afford a house, and the average American house cost 5.9x the average American income. In 2024, Americans find it nearly impossible to afford a house, and the average American house costs…5.9x the average American income.
Almost nowhere in California is building enough, according to the state. Here’s why
California ordered cities and counties to plan for 2.5 million new homes by 2030. Only five jurisdictions are on track to hit their numbers.
Two-bedroom apartments hit $6K for the first time in SF. The same apartment in Oakland is less than half that, but the clock is ticking.
While Oakland has long been a more affordable alternative, the rental gap between SF and Oakland is now at a staggering 128%. We break down why the East Bay deal might be changing as vacancy rates tighten.
The Housing Shortage Is a Major Driver of Poverty
Housing costs are usually the largest item in a household’s budget and can determine a family’s financial stability.
San Francisco cuts affordable housing requirement from 15% to 5%
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to reduce the rate after the city controller warned new housing was too difficult to build.
The Folk Economics of Housing
Why is housing supply so severely restricted in US cities and suburbs? Urban economists offer two primary hypotheses: homeowner self-interest and political fragmentation. Homeowners, who outnumber and have organizational advantages over renters, are said to lobby against development to protect their property values. The fragmentation hypothesis emphasizes that development's negative externalities are borne locally while most of the benefits accrue regionally or nationally, leading localities to block housing. This paper offers another explanation: ordinary people simply do not believe that adding more housing to the regional stock would reduce housing prices. Across three original surveys of urban and suburban residents, only a minority of respondents say that a large, positive, regional housing supply shock would reduce prices or rents. These beliefs are weakly held and unstable (suggesting people have given the issue little thought), but respondents do have stable views about who is to blame for high housing prices: developers and landlords. Large, bipartisan supermajorities support price controls, demand subsidies, and restrictions on putative bad actors, policies which they believe would be more effective than supply liberalization for widespread affordability. We discuss the implications of these findings for efforts to expand the supply of housing.
Real Estate Goes Global
Vancouver has the most expensive housing market in North America. Almost by chance, the city has found itself at the heart of one of the biggest trends of …
A Low-Cost Ownership Oasis in a Desert of Apartment Unaffordability
When this California housing cooperative began more than 30 years ago, it wasn’t the most affordable place to live. But now, it is.
What If California Is the Most Regressive State in America?
California ranks dead last in cost-of-living-adjusted poverty among all 50 states. A native Californian makes the case that Prop 13, NIMBY housing policy, and stroads make it the most regressive state in America.
Vancouver tech sector lags behind coastal rivals in income-to-house price ratio
An analysis finds the B.C. city’s sky-high housing prices and lower wages fall short of West Coast hubs San Francisco and Seattle
A crisis in Vancouver: The lifeblood of the city is leaving
When housing is no longer affordable for the lifeblood of the city, what will be left?
Make Housing Affordable | The Australian Greens
But housing is too expensive because Labor and the Liberals give special treatment to the big banks and the property industry. It doesn’t have to be this way.
New housing reforms could save more than $40,000 per home
Under Governor Gavin Newsom's new housing affordability reforms, several state housing financing programs will now be brought together under one roof.
The housing crisis is no longer shaping big-city politics. Why not?
In both Vancouver and Toronto, debates about planning and housing have been blunted by a lull in the market and rising housing supply. But experts say that is a temporary reprieve
Labor’s $1 billion housing plan does nothing to make homes more affordable for first home buyers | The Australian Greens
The Victorian Greens say Labor's latest housing announcement fails to address the biggest barrier facing young Victorians trying to buy their first home - the skyrocketing cost of housing.
More Housing is Possible: a National Town Hall · Burhan for State Senate
Join Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem and the people behind the Montana Miracle, California’s SB79, and the ROAD to Housing Act to discuss recent wins and what comes next for the housing movement. Speakers will dig into the policy that's moving the needle, the campaigns and organizing that got us here, and how local leadership can turn big ideas into more homes. Expect sharp takes, lively panels, and the collective brainpower of the country's most effective housing advocates in one (virtual) room.
