Feature...
Join CNU!Be a Part of the Movement»»» 
Affordable housing
New York's problem (or more broadly, the problem of medium density)
Submitted by MLewyn on Wed, 06/18/2014 - 11:37amAfter reading yet another blog post talking about how New York is losing migrants to other cities, I had an extremely insightful date. My date was with a woman who lived in Flatbush, at the outer, more car-oriented edge of Brooklyn. She drives everywhere. When I told her about my y... read more »
supply, demand and housing costs
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 06/02/2014 - 11:38amI've read numerous blog posts and articles asserting that gentrification or rich foreign investors increase housing costs by increasing demand. But people who raise this argument aren't always sensitive to the role of supply in the law of supply and demand: for example, one New York Time... read more »
Two Cheers for Cheap
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 04/15/2013 - 11:38amIn new urbanist circles, "cheap" is often a dirty word; for example, I recently noticed a reference to "cheap" suburbs in a blog. I find this objectionable for two reasons. First, in a nation where many regions suffer from insanely expensive housing projects, we should be striving for ch... read more »
The Onion Or San Francisco Chronicle? Hard To Tell The Difference
Submitted by MLewyn on Wed, 11/28/2012 - 3:10pmToday's headline: "S.F. Called Model For Affordable Housing."
Really? The same San Francisco where the average house is worth over $800,000 (about eleven times the median household income)? At first glance, the story seems at least as insane as any of the comedy stories on the Onion.
... read more »
Is New York really cheaper than Miami?
Submitted by MLewyn on Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:45amThe Center for Neighborhood Technology recently issued a report suggesting that compact cities with high housing costs (such as New York or San Francisco) might actually be less expensive than otherwise cheaper but car-dependent areas such as South Florida and Southern California. As provocati... read more »
a smaller deal than you think
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 7:43amThere's been a lot of hubbub about the Bloomberg Administration's proposal to make city-owned land available for 275-square-foot apartments. The city proposes to allow developers to build these "micro-units" and rent them for $2000 a unit. If you read some of the comments in the press, y... read more »
Housing costs and centralization
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 10:43amIn my limited experience, commentators who oppose regional land use regulations like urban growth boundaries (or at least worry about the impact of such regulations on housing costs) tend to favor keeping cities constrained within their 1950 boundaries, while people who favor such regulations t... read more »
LEED-ND and Affordable Neighborhoods
Submitted by Sam Newberg - J... on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 12:19amClick here to read a recent post by Kaid Benfield about planning for affordable housing and LEED-ND communities. The NRDC's Affordable Green Neighborhoods grant is an innovative way to combine good design with affordable housing.
... read more »
Boston's Asian CDC Brings Urban Vision, Fun, and Affordability to Chinatown
Submitted by Kaid Benfield on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 11:47amEvery summer, Boston’s Asian Community Development Corporation has been hosting an informal grassroots Asian film festival in a vacant lot near the city’s Chinatown Gate.
... read more »
10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania gives top Commonwealth Award to Looney Ricks Kiss's Florin Hill
Submitted by logannash on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 10:11am10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, an organization promoting smart growth policies and development in the state, has announced the winner of its 2009 Charter Awards.
... read more »