"Raise taxes on wealthy older adults" is terrible politics but good policy. Property tax exemptions for older homeowners stem from good intentions but are actually regressive, because they reduce the availability of homes for younger, less wealthy renters.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/o...
This post in my neighborhood listserv fills me w/ delight: "I would literally love to see more MF across the street from me. Cities should change & grow, they are interesting places to be because they are dynamic. I think more folks should be able to join us in our wonderful neighborhood."
What’s better than a tax on “luxury” second homes? A tax on expensive land, not dependent on who owns it.
My neighborhood listserv having an absolute meltdown over whether DC’s new comp plan could allow laundromats & corner stores nearby. Friends, we do live in a city, not a suburban HOA. Corner stores are great! Laundromats are useful! Neighborhood serving retail is awesome!
Virginia took significant steps last month to expand the use of manufactured housing in the state. HB655, which passed on a broad bipartisan basis, requires localities to allow manufactured homes in any residential zone that permits site-built housing. 1/3
So many good audience questions! The housing policy wonk crowd takes research design very seriously (as we should).
Golden yellow savory carrot cake, flecked with scallions and feta chunks.
Slice of savory carrot cake frosted with Greek yoghurt and sprinkled with scallions and red pepper flakes.
Easter baking: savory carrot cake. Basically health food. 🐰
Apartments are real homes. Renters are real neighbors. Don’t limit other people’s choices. And always read @resnikoff.bsky.social.
Something I was not taught in policy school: legislative bill text bears little to no resemblance to policy design. Really, they're separate languages.
Come for the overview of state pro-housing policy, stay for the wonky research design challenges. If measurement error and endogeneity are some of your favorite words, this webinar is for you! (Said with deep affection.)
Had a great conversation with @velshi.com about the tangible ways cities & states can make it easier to build homes of all shapes & sizes to make housing more affordable. Also love that Ali cited Yoni Appelbaum’s book Stuck (it’s so good)!
And legalize corner stores + cafes everywhere. Obviously.
Upzone (upFLUM) the heck out of every bus corridor, starting with 16th St. Add more high frequency bus lines. Rinse and repeat.
Bleeping coincidence.
Actually, many people do give a shit about housing.
Tiny white snowdrops
Not-quite open daffodils
Bright green leaves of arum lilies
Camellias just showing tight pink buds
Spring is springing! Grateful for green things.
Yes and yes.
Friendly reminder for anyone interviewing candidates: it is illegal to ask whether candidates have kids, their religious affiliation, & whether they were born in the US. Requiring people to fly out for an in-person visit but setting 2/3 of their interviews on zoom isn’t illegal but is quite rude.
Had drinks w a friend who just did a fly out for a TT academic job and I don’t understand how universities haven’t been sued into oblivion for labor law violations. Or mocked into shame by the Onion. Or both.
Also I would happily read 3000 words on “Bikes, cars, walkable suburban centers and the (in)dependence of American teenagers in John Hughes’ America”.
Perfect Gen X Valentines celebration: 40th anniversary of Pretty in Pink. 80s hairstyles and clothes have not aged well. Class signals have shifted. But soundtrack still one banger after another.
Happy Valentine’s Day to people who love their cities and want to share them with more neighbors. ❤️
I wish more reporters routinely asked "what's the counterfactual?" to frame their stories. PHX built a ton of housing & prices/rents didn't drop in absolute levels -- in part b/c PHX absorbs out-migrants from non-building places. What if CA doesn't build AND PHX didn't build much? So much worse.
Housing research friends, are you excited to study how state pro-housing policies are working? The Infrastructure team @arnoldventures.bsky.social just launched an RFP for Measurement & Evaluation of State & Local Housing Supply Reforms. Details:
www.arnoldventures.org/infrastructu...
One last note: please, please, do not run a 50-state regression with pre- and post-zoning reform dummy variables on the RHS. That's like saying that getting your appendix removed is equivalent to taking antibiotics for strep (generic "treatment"). Just...don't.
Social scientists have a golden opportunity to harness good research for the public good. State legislatures are becoming labs of housing policy experimentation. Researchers can help policymakers understand what works & what doesn't in real time -- practical, relevant, & useful to real people. (end)
Policymakers will benefit from simple, timely, thoughtfully designed descriptive analysis--well-measured outcomes clearly documented--not just gold standard evaluations 10 years from now. Both qualitative & quantitative analysis can be hugely useful.
5) New policies are layered on top of old ones. Legalizing ADUs in CA (w/ its infinite nest of decades-old anti-housing policies) will work differently than legalizing ADUs in MT or TX (we think). Macroeconomic trends--tariffs, WFH, immigration crackdowns--also intermediate pro-housing policies.
4) Can't believe I got to #4 before hitting endogeneity...states (cities) with political will to pass pro-housing policies behave differently in lots of ways than states (cities) that don't. But...can state policies push NIMBY localities to build more? We hope so?
3) It's surprisingly hard to measure the most direct outcome of pro-housing policies: how many homes get built each year. Even harder to measure new construction by structure type (we have no natl ADU inventory!) or location (in transit/job corridors). Frustrating but fixable...stay tuned.