Houston Oasis Talk
My talk to Houston Oasis on January 21 is available on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ByaynUEFCY I am introduced at 43:25
My talk to Houston Oasis on January 21 is available on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ByaynUEFCY I am introduced at 43:25
It is rare that a book can objectively present the facts and then draw all of the wrong conclusions. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017, is one such book. Author Matthew Desmond follows eight low-income families and their landlords during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. He chronicles…
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,…
As rents soar in many parts of the country, government officials and housing advocates are increasingly looking to rent control—caps on what landlords may charge—to moderate prices. However, rent control ignores a basic principle of economics. One of the fundamental principles of economics is the law of supply and demand. This principle holds that if…
Like many cities in America, St. Paul, Minnesota, is suffering from a severe shortage of affordable housing. And, as happens in many cities across the nation, some neighborhood groups in St. Paul are opposing a project that would provide homes for 144 low-income families. Opponents to the project would prefer a vacant lot rather than…
The methods for dealing with a supply shortage are well-known. Prices can be increased to curtail demand. Retailers can move inventory to areas with high demand. Manufacturers can increase their production. However, these methods have not been effective in addressing the housing shortage currently afflicting nearly every city in Texas. Price increases have done little…
A professor in San Diego has concluded that Yelp reviews of ethnic restaurants are contributing to gentrification and displacement. The reviews “contribute to the transformation of urban foodscapes — the physical, symbolic, cultural, lived, and imagined food environments — that have been built by people of color….” And because the reviewers are “primarily young, white,…