Housing and Urban Issues
Stresses on urban communities continue to affect housing, food security, child services, homelessness, business development and crime. Coverage includes stories about new solutions to how cities are run, how they develop as urban centers and about the people who live there.
In one form or another over decades, this urban improvement program and its predecessors have found bipartisan support. But their record is mixed at best.
Sunset Mesa residents are pushing for fireproof construction with noncombustible materials to shield entire blocks and attract affordable insurance.
The city's yearslong struggle to open sites for homeless people living in vehicles will likely continue after the federal government dismissed the idea as “reprehensible” and “dystopian.”
A Kentucky teachers union is calling on Fayette County Public Schools to follow Cincinnati’s lead with designated “Safe Sleep Lots” as housing insecurity among students persists.
A Sacramento developer is using a $1.5 million 3D printer to build fire-resistant, low-waste homes that could reshape how California tackles its housing shortage.
Instead of across-the-board property tax cuts, targeted state and federal incentives for younger first-time home buyers and older would-be sellers could begin to break the logjam in the housing market.
A new California law overrides local regulations to provide multifamily housing around transit corridors. Can it succeed in finally getting much-needed housing built? And is sprawl really such a bad thing?
The issues that drove the winning campaigns reflected a mix of local and national concerns, and the results pointed to divergent, sometimes contradictory, priorities for big-city voters.
The Zone Zero regulations, designed to keep embers from igniting homes, have drawn more than 4,000 public comments and fierce debate over plants, property rights and policy.
Home prices have begun to stabilize ever so slightly in the last few months after years of rapid growth. Experts don’t expect them to plummet anytime soon.
The cost of housing is one big barrier to family formation. But simply building more single family homes isn't the answer.
More than half of surveyed mayors expect affordability to worsen next year, but their powers are constrained by state pre-emption, high construction costs and limited municipal authority.
A stretch of a historic highway in Lancaster, Calif., was transformed from a semi-freeway through town to an inviting space for residents and passersby to linger and connect.
Only 2% of post-fire applications have been approved as residents battle regulations, high costs and competition from foreign buyers snapping up burned lots
Economists hate it, but imposed in moderation it isn’t automatically ruinous. Meat-ax approaches like Zohran Mamdani’s in New York City might appeal to the voters, but they risk doing more harm than good.
The reforms expand grants for fireproofing homes, require higher advance payments after wildfires, and give the state’s last-resort insurance plan more financial stability.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener and a group of advocates spent seven years pushing a bill to promote dense housing near transit stops. It finally became law.
Despite national praise for the affordability of metro-area homes, aging housing stock, rising debt and out-of-town corporate buyers are hindering ownership.
Clear, consistent planning and messaging helped New Rochelle, N.Y., build thousands of housing units with minimal blowback.
Americans have always feared crowding and congestion, blaming the anonymity of the city for a decline in community feeling. But cities’ energy and vitality continue to pull people toward urban life.
Modern multifamily buildings are far safer than those built long ago. It’s another reason for policymakers to remove regulatory barriers to constructing them.
Josh Green’s plan relies heavily on redeveloping state land and expediting permits — but nearly half the pipeline homes haven’t cleared essential approvals.
Under a law effective July 1, officers may force observers to stay 25 feet back, a mandate critics say shields law enforcement from public scrutiny during active scenes.
A new law in New Jersey requires cities to plan for a share of the state’s housing needs. The Republican candidate for governor is tapping into local frustration about it.
Mayor Katrina Thompson says she refuses to govern her small town outside Chicago from a position of fear.
Trillions of dollars of wealth, much of it in homes and other property, will be moving from baby boomers to millennials. Local governments should begin preparing for dealing with that generation’s values.
It's vital to democracy, but the economics of the business and corporate ownership continue to challenge the independent reporting communities need.
Columbus, Ohio, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, its economy driven by an unusual culture of cooperation led by Mayor Andrew Ginther.
As traditional development slows, accessory dwelling units now represent 30–45 percent of new permits and more than half of the affordable homes in unincorporated areas.
In recent months, major cities including San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Fresno and Los Angeles have significantly stepped up efforts to clear encampments. Officials say it's an overdue shift in policy around homelessness.
Forbidding high-rises were a product of a misguided, elitist ideology. We could have done better than leveling vibrant neighborhoods.
