Free Cities
Blog
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 1 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 7, 2024 2023 was a fascinating chapter for housing in Los Angeles. By almost all measures, our city has yet to take the necessary steps to address the tremendous housing crisis ...
Thomas Irwin
March 7, 2024
Blog
Increasing rent control will decrease needed housing supply
Increasing rent control will decrease needed housing supply In Los Angeles, people are being offered six-figure dollar sums for homes they don’t even own. At least not in title or in principled terms. The targets of these offers are tenants living in rent-controlled housing, which they have almost as much ...
Kerry Jackson
February 29, 2024
Blog
Read latest from Free Cities Center
Blame slow-growth policies for housing and homeless crises
By Wayne Winegarden and Steven Greenhut The roots of California’s housing problems aren’t hard to trace given the reams of house-price and population data going back decades. The Los Angeles Times reported the median price of a California home in 1970 was only 5 percent higher than the national average ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 28, 2024
Blog
Making Progress in Breaking the Housing Log Jam
LA’s housing reforms are working, but don’t go far enough
Bass has done so through a series of executive directives. Upon taking office in December 2022, Bass signed Executive Directive 1, which instructed city departments to complete reviews of 100% affordable housing applications within 60 days of receipt. At the time, it took city officials an average of six to ...
Sal Rodriguez
February 23, 2024
Blog
Read about new local tax & bond measures
Local voters face 77 tax increases on California’s March ballot
According to its calculation, if all pass the combined hit would be $350 million in direct tax increases and $3.6 billion in bonded indebtedness. The group notes the new debt includes “36 school bonds, 16 transactions and use taxes, 19 parcel taxes, two general obligation bonds, one business license tax, ...
John Seiler
February 21, 2024
Blog
Car-less cities campaign is the latest paternalistic fad
Car-less cities campaign is the latest paternalistic fad By Steven Greenhut | February 16, 2024 Many modern urbanists like to claim the great urban writer Jane Jacobs, author of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” as one of their own. It’s easy to understand, given that Jacobs was ...
Steven Greenhut
February 16, 2024
Free Cities
WATCH: Are more public transit subsidies the key to improving urban living?
Watch as Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut sits down with Professor William Anderson to discuss whether more subsidies for public transit are the key to improving urban living.
Pacific Research Institute
February 16, 2024
Blog
Learn about push for congestion pricing
Urbanists to suburbanites: Stay out of our trendy ‘playgrounds’
In New York, the city has introduced a “congestion tax” – effectively, a cordon tax – for all cars entering lower Manhattan. In Cincinnati, the City Council voted for a ban on new surface parking lots downtown. In Indianapolis, the state Legislature is trying to prevent the city from halving ...
Andrew Smith
February 14, 2024
Blog
Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle
Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle By Jeremy Lott | February 8, 2024 An optimistic headline topped the joint news release from Washington state’s most-populous city and its most-populous county in December 2019 heralding the formation of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. This effort would create a “new unified regional ...
Jeremy Lott
February 8, 2024
Blog
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Well-run California cities grow, while badly run ones shrink
I’ve come up with a unique way to measure how well California cities are doing. It shows those with well-run finances grow in population, while those badly run shrink. It’s a generality. There are exceptions. But look at the trend line on this chart. Notice the trend line, the dotted ...
John Seiler
February 6, 2024
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 1 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 7, 2024 2023 was a fascinating chapter for housing in Los Angeles. By almost all measures, our city has yet to take the necessary steps to address the tremendous housing crisis ...
Increasing rent control will decrease needed housing supply
Increasing rent control will decrease needed housing supply In Los Angeles, people are being offered six-figure dollar sums for homes they don’t even own. At least not in title or in principled terms. The targets of these offers are tenants living in rent-controlled housing, which they have almost as much ...
Read latest from Free Cities Center
Blame slow-growth policies for housing and homeless crises
By Wayne Winegarden and Steven Greenhut The roots of California’s housing problems aren’t hard to trace given the reams of house-price and population data going back decades. The Los Angeles Times reported the median price of a California home in 1970 was only 5 percent higher than the national average ...
Making Progress in Breaking the Housing Log Jam
LA’s housing reforms are working, but don’t go far enough
Bass has done so through a series of executive directives. Upon taking office in December 2022, Bass signed Executive Directive 1, which instructed city departments to complete reviews of 100% affordable housing applications within 60 days of receipt. At the time, it took city officials an average of six to ...
Read about new local tax & bond measures
Local voters face 77 tax increases on California’s March ballot
According to its calculation, if all pass the combined hit would be $350 million in direct tax increases and $3.6 billion in bonded indebtedness. The group notes the new debt includes “36 school bonds, 16 transactions and use taxes, 19 parcel taxes, two general obligation bonds, one business license tax, ...
Car-less cities campaign is the latest paternalistic fad
Car-less cities campaign is the latest paternalistic fad By Steven Greenhut | February 16, 2024 Many modern urbanists like to claim the great urban writer Jane Jacobs, author of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” as one of their own. It’s easy to understand, given that Jacobs was ...
WATCH: Are more public transit subsidies the key to improving urban living?
Watch as Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut sits down with Professor William Anderson to discuss whether more subsidies for public transit are the key to improving urban living.
Learn about push for congestion pricing
Urbanists to suburbanites: Stay out of our trendy ‘playgrounds’
In New York, the city has introduced a “congestion tax” – effectively, a cordon tax – for all cars entering lower Manhattan. In Cincinnati, the City Council voted for a ban on new surface parking lots downtown. In Indianapolis, the state Legislature is trying to prevent the city from halving ...
Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle
Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle By Jeremy Lott | February 8, 2024 An optimistic headline topped the joint news release from Washington state’s most-populous city and its most-populous county in December 2019 heralding the formation of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. This effort would create a “new unified regional ...
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Well-run California cities grow, while badly run ones shrink
I’ve come up with a unique way to measure how well California cities are doing. It shows those with well-run finances grow in population, while those badly run shrink. It’s a generality. There are exceptions. But look at the trend line on this chart. Notice the trend line, the dotted ...