Category: Housing

The fight over housing affordability and density in Cupertino captures the struggle for the soul of suburban America. Cupertino, California is in some sense, not special at all. It’s a classic postwar suburb with leafy subdivisions of single-family homes connected by arterial roads and freeways and a population of  60,000 people. An hour south of… Read more Suburban Skylines: One tech suburb’s struggle to grow and keep its character

As part of the Harlem Is Not For Sale movement, organizers are rejecting the typical income thresholds for their own affordable housing demands. Under the metal gas station canopy, the winter breeze intensifies on a calm Saturday afternoon in late January. A small crowd of about 50 people gather, holding signs and speaking into megaphones… Read more Harlem Organizers are Building Their Own Criteria for Development

Legislators ought to support the proposal, rather than water it down, and actually tackle the housing crisis New York governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious “New York Housing Compact” proposal is at risk of being gutted during the state budget negotiation process. Earlier this month, the New York State Assembly and Senate each released their own budget… Read more Governor Hochul’s proposed Housing Compact would be transformative – but it’s at risk

We know what’s wrong with HUD’s methodology for AMI, so what would it take to finally improve it? There’s a strong case to be made that AMI – Area Median Income – has earned itself the title of “Most Important Three-letter Acronym” in the housing and urban planning world. “Affordable for who?” has been a… Read more Tired of Talking About Area Median Income: Fixing AMI Once and For All