For years, Californians have been fleeing the state’s outrageously high taxes and draconian regulations. Many have settled in Texas, where both taxes and business regulations are generally less onerous. Interestingly, the Texas state capital, Austin, will soon become an unofficial part of California. A report by Zillow finds that, by the end of this year,…
A neighborhood association in Boise is fighting a proposal to develop a 226-unit subdivision. The Northwest Neighborhood Association (NWNA) contends that the development would prejudice its “substantial rights to ‘open space and rural character.’” Rights pertain to freedom of action. If one desires to live in a neighborhood with open space and a rural character,…
For more than 100 years, discussions of housing and related policies have been dominated by a flawed method. It is a method that disdains principles and long-term thinking. The result has been an ongoing attempt to address an issue in isolation with no consideration to how a policy will impact other areas of life. The…
An interesting article at TheRealDeal.com gives a peak into the problems caused by zoning and land-use regulations. The article discusses, in part, the plight of developer Arthur Wiener, who spent more than ten years getting the necessary permits to build an apartment building in New York City. A former employee of the Department of Housing…
The Los Angeles city council recently passed a resolution to oppose two bills being considered by the California Legislature. SB 9 would allow up to four housing units on a lot currently zoned for single-family and would apply across the state. SB 10 would allow cities to “upzone” and permit as many as ten housing…
An editorial in the Los Angeles Times calls for state lawmakers to pass legislation that would “sacrifice single-family zoning to save California.” But abolishing single-family zoning means restoring a little freedom to property owners, and freedom is not a sacrifice. Sacrifice “is the surrender of a greater value for the sake of a lesser one…
The Ford Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently committed $1.6 million to the HouseUS Fund. The fund, according to one of the co-directors, is not about building housing or building homes, it’s about building power. We are looking at the broader definition of housing and approaching it as a right rather than a commodity….
The owner of a Miami Beach hotel—Setai Hotel Acquisition LLC–is suing the city over a zoning change. Zoning officials approved a change that would allow BHI Miami Limited to make additions to a building it recently purchased. Setai claims that the additions will block ocean views in many of its rooms, those views are a…
Virtually every proposal to address the housing crisis starts with the same flawed premise, namely, the solution must come from government. The city of Boise illustrates this flawed premise. The city is currently testing three different ideas to address the housing shortage: incentives and assistance for homeowners to build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), allowing…
Writing in The Federalist, David Larsen makes a compelling case for eliminating single-family zoning. And he takes his fellow conservatives to task for opposing the Biden administration’s call to relax zoning laws: Are conservatives only against impositions on freedom and property rights from the federal government, while local governments should have absolute power over the…
Many great innovations begin with an idea that others dismiss as absurd. The electric light bulb is one example. When Thomas Edison announced that he was working to invent an electric light bulb, he was mocked as a fool with no understanding of electricity. But he trusted his own judgment, and when he succeeded, he…
It is said that politics makes strange bedfellows. Individuals who normally disagree politically sometimes find themselves working for a common cause. As an example, consider the conservative response to Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan and the Leftist response to the Cedar Point ruling. Though these are two very different issues, both conservatives and Leftists are supporting…