Articles

The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado could change how local and state governments extract development impact fees from property owners in exchange for building permits. In the April ruling, the Court held that development fee schedules are subject to judicial scrutiny under the doctrine of unconstitutional conditi ...

Across the country, land-use officials are grappling with chronic housing shortages — the result of longstanding legal and policy failures, including archaic zoning rules and ongoing labor and supply shortages. From Seattle to Key West, to Calabasas, there simply is not enough housing for the American people. Among the many potential solutions pro- ...

In Real Estate Issues, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys Brian Hodges and Sam Spiegelman published a thorough, peer reviewed article making the case for build-to-rent homes as a solution for housing shortages. Real Estate Issues is a notable trade publication published by The Counselors of Real Estate, "an international consortium of credentialed ...

With the cost of homeownership rising, build-to-rent offers an attractive alternative for new families — so why are we banning them? Like much of the nation, Georgians face a severe housing shortage — a crisis driving prices out of reach for too many families, especially young parents looking for starter homes. With the problem only worsening du ...

This summer the Biden administration released a report that came to the same conclusion every administration since President Reagan's has reached: restrictive land-use regulation is one of the primary causes of the housing crisis. Across the country, too few homes are being built, and those that are built are often too expensive for the average ...

Still no place to live: The local barriers to the accessory dwelling unit revolution A Pacific Legal Foundation report WHEN JASON AND ELIZABETH Riddick began considering their options for building an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on their Malibu home, they thought their prayers were answered.   The Riddicks were trying to find an option for ho ...

It's not often that Chicago's City Council passes a housing law that can benefit nearly every Chicagoan. But the city did exactly that when it took its first—albeit tepid—step toward lifting its half-century ban on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU's), or as they're more commonly known, coach houses or granny flats. In December last year, the city enac ...

With the D.C. Council set to vote on its massive update to the comprehensive plan in the coming months, it's high time that we ask the hard question whether we are using the right tools to address equity and affordability in housing. The problem isn't that zoning doesn't work. It's that zoning works all too well at what it was designed to do: sh ...

Our nation is in the midst of a severe and ever-worsening housing crisis. For decades, we have seen far too few homes being built. And those homes that are built are often too expensive—particularly in major urban centers, where poor and middle-class families increasingly find themselves priced out of homes and apartments located near the best jobs ...