We can have one without the other
States can grant regulatory authority to local governments to amend zoning and tax laws to increase housing affordability and not put a hole in city budgets In this paper we explore three approaches to solving the growing housing affordable housing crisis. First, I summarize some… Read More »A Pathway to Opening the Urban Land Market to Affordable Housing
The financial crisis of 2008-10 illustrated the immense danger of a malfunctioning housing market. According to The Economist, between 2000 and 2007, America’s household debt rose from 104% to 144% of household income, and house prices rose by 50% in real terms. San Francisco and other large metropolitan areas in the U.S. are experiencing rents that represent 40% of the average person’s earnings. Housing is too expensive, which is damaging to the economy and poisoning politics.
Low-density housing typically refers to residential areas occupied primarily by single-family homes or buildings with a limited number of dwellings. There is no set definition, but one characteristic of such an area is that the inhabitants start complaining about any housing development that is too… Read More »Zoning Has Been Weaponized
To save itself, Los Angeles must return to its original hair color or, as they say, “its roots.” When my great-great-grandfather landed in Los Angeles in 1890, there were commuter trains. Downtown Los Angeles was an actual center city, not simply a name of one of over 400 neighborhoods. Los Angeles’ functional boundary currently has 400 neighborhoods whose names rarely denote anything more than a feeling from a particular time.
Along with New York City, Newark, New Jersey, possesses one of the best locational advantages of any city in the United States. Founded in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans, the town grew by leaps and bounds; the Industrial Revolution sparked a meteoric increase in population and a multi-sector industrial and commercial base. First, canals and then railroads converged into the city. With a population of 8000 in 1820, people poured in, swelling the city’s population to 367,000 by 1910.
The civic confidence of Newark was such that city leaders in government and business thought it was time to go big. In the era of bold public development, the Meadowlands of New Jersey (known as Newark Meadows) consisted of 46 square miles of what today we would call wetlands but then were called “wastelands.” 4300 acres lay inside the city limits of Newark, and plans were executed and funded by the city to build a port from the “reclaimed” land.
None of Henry George’s books has the word “tax” in the title. This may be because he did not want his ideas to be framed as being mainly about taxes. His central message was that land should be “common property” and that a land value… Read More »Exploring the Possibilities of Land Trusts
Article by Tom Gihring, Research Director – Common Ground OR/WA Consequences of Two Property Tax Systems For several years property tax reformers have been calling for a land value tax (LVT) to counteract rapidly rising home prices. A property tax system that raises the tax… Read More »Tax Induced Opportunities for Expanding Community Land Trust Housing in Portland, Oregon
LLCs are a way to combine the benefits of a traditional corporate structure with enhanced anonymity and reduced tax-liability, making them the ideal method for limiting risk while at the same time maximizing profits. This incentivizes land speculation rather than reinvestment in the land in… Read More »CPTR Mapping Tool: LLCs in New York City
If you read any comment section or editorial page in Montana, the one sentiment that seems to be endorsed all across the political spectrum, and rarely challenged, is the fear that Montana is going to become ‘like California’. Montanans are proud of our State and… Read More »Protecting Local Communities Means Harnessing Land Value and Building Housing
Housing as a human right has become a rallying cry across the United States and in many countries, especially in cities. More and more people are perplexed as to why housing is out of reach for all but the wealthy. Why have the needs of… Read More »Is COVID-19 spending fueling speculative vacancies?
