Housing
Blog
Would sales tax increase make Denver more "affordable"?
Legalizing housing will do more for Denver than a tax hike
Like many cities across the country, Denver has experienced soaring housing prices. While wages in the Denver area have increased 55% over the last decade, the median home sale price has surged 180%. A majority of renters are burdened by high rents eating up 30% or more of their incomes, ...
California
Judge Glock – On California’s Housing and Homelessness Problems
With housing – including rent control and development policies – and homelessness key issues for voters across California this election year, we present an expanded version of our recent conversation between the Manhattan Institute’s Judge Glock and our Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center. The two discuss government housing ...
Blog
Read the latest about overregulation holding up new housing construction
White House rightly calls out onerous local permit hurdles
The post, published by the Biden administration’s Council of Economic Advisers, correctly points out that discretionary permitting processes by their nature throw barriers before housing developments. This can slow or outright deter housing from being built. “With discretionary permitting, the proposal is subject to the approval of a public body, ...
Blog
Shocker from Argentina: Free Markets Work in Housing, too
Shocker from Argentina: free markets work in housing, too William L. Anderson | October 18, 2024 Rent control is in the news both in California and elsewhere. In California, voters will decide Proposition 33, which would permit local governments to impose draconian rent controls and other restrictions on property owners ...
Blog
Squatters’ Blues
“California homeowners are facing an ongoing squatter crisis across Los Angeles,” Newsweek reported in May. Based on comments from Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, Newsweek said that “thousands of homes are being invaded by squatters who live in them without paying rent, and ...
Book
New Free Cities Book
Building Cities From Scratch
SACRAMENTO – The plan by a group of San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists to build an entirely new city on ranch land in Solano County between the Bay Area and Sacramento has become one of the most controversial housing plans in Northern California in years. The East Solano Plan ...
Blog
The strange hypocrisy of the ‘just build housing’ YIMBYs
The strange hypocrisy of the ‘just build housing’ YIMBYs Steven Greenhut | October 2, 2024 Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the Free Cities Center’s forthcoming booklet (“Building New Cities from Scratch: America’s Long History of Urban Experimentation”) about new cities, which was prompted by California Forever’s proposal to ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Democratic plan would bring turmoil to housing markets
A century ago, the federal government involved itself hardly at all in housing, leaving that to state and local governments, and the market. The major exception was housing on federal land, including the District of Columbia, other territories and military bases. That changed in 1937 when, as part of President ...
Blog
Read about latest taxpayer-funded giveaway for undocumented immigrants
Newsom Gets One Right in Vetoing Downpayment Aid for Undocumented
Had he signed it, the legislation would have forbidden applicants seeking financial aid for home purchases through the state’s housing purchase assistance program, created by a previous bill, from being “disqualified solely based on the applicant’s immigration status.” But as the governor said in his veto message, funding for the ...
California
Learn about the problems with LA's Measure ULA
Yet another example of a tax that didn’t live up to its promises
Measure ULA, approved by nearly 58% of the voters, initially imposed a 4% “mansion tax” on the sales of any homes or commercial properties valued at more than $5 million. The rate jumped to 5.5% on sales above $10 million. The thresholds increased to $5.15 million and $10.3 million on ...
Would sales tax increase make Denver more "affordable"?
Legalizing housing will do more for Denver than a tax hike
Like many cities across the country, Denver has experienced soaring housing prices. While wages in the Denver area have increased 55% over the last decade, the median home sale price has surged 180%. A majority of renters are burdened by high rents eating up 30% or more of their incomes, ...
Judge Glock – On California’s Housing and Homelessness Problems
With housing – including rent control and development policies – and homelessness key issues for voters across California this election year, we present an expanded version of our recent conversation between the Manhattan Institute’s Judge Glock and our Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center. The two discuss government housing ...
Read the latest about overregulation holding up new housing construction
White House rightly calls out onerous local permit hurdles
The post, published by the Biden administration’s Council of Economic Advisers, correctly points out that discretionary permitting processes by their nature throw barriers before housing developments. This can slow or outright deter housing from being built. “With discretionary permitting, the proposal is subject to the approval of a public body, ...
Shocker from Argentina: Free Markets Work in Housing, too
Shocker from Argentina: free markets work in housing, too William L. Anderson | October 18, 2024 Rent control is in the news both in California and elsewhere. In California, voters will decide Proposition 33, which would permit local governments to impose draconian rent controls and other restrictions on property owners ...
Squatters’ Blues
“California homeowners are facing an ongoing squatter crisis across Los Angeles,” Newsweek reported in May. Based on comments from Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, Newsweek said that “thousands of homes are being invaded by squatters who live in them without paying rent, and ...
New Free Cities Book
Building Cities From Scratch
SACRAMENTO – The plan by a group of San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists to build an entirely new city on ranch land in Solano County between the Bay Area and Sacramento has become one of the most controversial housing plans in Northern California in years. The East Solano Plan ...
The strange hypocrisy of the ‘just build housing’ YIMBYs
The strange hypocrisy of the ‘just build housing’ YIMBYs Steven Greenhut | October 2, 2024 Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the Free Cities Center’s forthcoming booklet (“Building New Cities from Scratch: America’s Long History of Urban Experimentation”) about new cities, which was prompted by California Forever’s proposal to ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Democratic plan would bring turmoil to housing markets
A century ago, the federal government involved itself hardly at all in housing, leaving that to state and local governments, and the market. The major exception was housing on federal land, including the District of Columbia, other territories and military bases. That changed in 1937 when, as part of President ...
Read about latest taxpayer-funded giveaway for undocumented immigrants
Newsom Gets One Right in Vetoing Downpayment Aid for Undocumented
Had he signed it, the legislation would have forbidden applicants seeking financial aid for home purchases through the state’s housing purchase assistance program, created by a previous bill, from being “disqualified solely based on the applicant’s immigration status.” But as the governor said in his veto message, funding for the ...
Learn about the problems with LA's Measure ULA
Yet another example of a tax that didn’t live up to its promises
Measure ULA, approved by nearly 58% of the voters, initially imposed a 4% “mansion tax” on the sales of any homes or commercial properties valued at more than $5 million. The rate jumped to 5.5% on sales above $10 million. The thresholds increased to $5.15 million and $10.3 million on ...
