Free Cities
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Part 3
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 3 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 21, 2024 So what lessons can we draw from what Los Angeles has seen with Executive Directive 1, the city’s effort to streamline regulations for affordable-housing projects? First, people passionate about ...
Blog
Part 2
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 2 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 15, 2024 In the first part of this series, I reviewed the one bright spot in Los Angeles’ efforts to increase housing supply and reduce housing costs – the success of ...
Blog
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Cities should think twice before embracing ‘fare-free’ transit
On Jan. 1, 2020, the InterCity Transit agency servicing Olympia, Wash., and nearby cities went “zero fare.” From 2020 through 2023, the city of Tucson, Ariz., made its public transit system “free” to ride, with the council declaring “our intention to go fare-free transit.” Activists in Los Angeles have argued ...
Free Cities
WATCH: Learn about the intriguing proposed Solano County city
A proposed new city in rural Solano County has generated significant interest and intrigue. Watch as the Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut explores the controversial new city effort with reporter Nick McConnell of the Vacaville Reporter and Free Cities Center contributor Edward Ring.
Blog
Learn about newly proposed Solano County city
New city’s fate will show if California is serious about housing
Surveys consistently show that owning a home is one of the keys to overall happiness, which no doubt explains why debates about housing prices are so emotional – and so dominant in the Legislature and at city councils. Thanks to low supply and the resulting price surges, many Californians now ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
Part 3
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 3 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 21, 2024 So what lessons can we draw from what Los Angeles has seen with Executive Directive 1, the city’s effort to streamline regulations for affordable-housing projects? First, people passionate about ...
Part 2
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 2 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 15, 2024 In the first part of this series, I reviewed the one bright spot in Los Angeles’ efforts to increase housing supply and reduce housing costs – the success of ...
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Cities should think twice before embracing ‘fare-free’ transit
On Jan. 1, 2020, the InterCity Transit agency servicing Olympia, Wash., and nearby cities went “zero fare.” From 2020 through 2023, the city of Tucson, Ariz., made its public transit system “free” to ride, with the council declaring “our intention to go fare-free transit.” Activists in Los Angeles have argued ...
WATCH: Learn about the intriguing proposed Solano County city
A proposed new city in rural Solano County has generated significant interest and intrigue. Watch as the Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut explores the controversial new city effort with reporter Nick McConnell of the Vacaville Reporter and Free Cities Center contributor Edward Ring.
Learn about newly proposed Solano County city
New city’s fate will show if California is serious about housing
Surveys consistently show that owning a home is one of the keys to overall happiness, which no doubt explains why debates about housing prices are so emotional – and so dominant in the Legislature and at city councils. Thanks to low supply and the resulting price surges, many Californians now ...
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, ...
