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Local Planning, Housing Research, Forecasts and Analyses

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October 15, 2019

All in the Family: The New Multigenerational Household

October 15, 2019

All in the Family: The New Multigenerational Household

In recent years, particularly since the Great Recession, multigenerational living has been on the rise across the country. Economic and demographic factors are the primary reasons why more people are…
September 30, 2019

Rent Control is Back Again

September 30, 2019

Rent Control is Back Again

In February, Oregon became the first state to enact statewide rent control. In September, California followed with its own statewide rent cap.  Only the District of Columbia and three other…

Recent Posts

How Can We Build More Housing? The Easy Answer Is Not Usually Easy
May 29, 2018

How Can We Build More Housing? The Easy Answer Is Not Usually Easy

According to recent research from a collaboration of public policy, advocacy and economic research organizations, 23 states in the United States built 7.3 million too few housing units between 2000 and 2015. The biggest deficit was in California, where fast job growth has attracted millions of new residents and metro areas up and down the […]
Local Solutions in Action: Expedited Development Review and Approval Process
May 21, 2018

Local Solutions in Action: Expedited Development Review and Approval Process

The Local Solutions in Action series highlights strategies for expanding housing options and increasing housing affordability. The focus is on land use, zoning, financial and other regulatory tools that are available to cities, counties and towns that can be used to meet the housing needs of their residents and workforce. Expedited Development Review and Permitting […]
What Do We Know About the Impacts of Rent Control?
May 14, 2018

What Do We Know About the Impacts of Rent Control?

Renewed interest in rent control in California and otherplaces is a reaction to growing housing affordability challenges across the country and in high-cost coastal markets, in particular. As rents continue to rise, rent control is being advocated as a mechanism to help mitigate the rental affordability challenge and make it easier for lower-income individuals and […]
What I Learned About Local Housing Policy from Online Dating
May 7, 2018

What I Learned About Local Housing Policy from Online Dating

I met my husband on Match.com. He is an awesome guy! But when you’re meeting people online, you can end up going on A LOT of less than awesome dates. Most of the time, the only fallout was an awkward hour over coffee or a drink. You usually don’t learn a lot about a person […]
Where We Live: Millennials, Gen X’ers and Boomers in the DC Area
May 1, 2018

Where We Live: Millennials, Gen X’ers and Boomers in the DC Area

Age matters a lot when it comes to predicting where someone lives. Looking at residential location patterns by age might help us predict future housing demand in different types of metros. A lot has been written about how Millennials are choosing to live in different places than earlier generations did and that Baby Boomers are […]
Housing Solutions for Small Cities
April 23, 2018

Housing Solutions for Small Cities

I was part of a panel series in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month that was part of the annual Tom Tom Founders Festival that is held each year in Charlottesville and was focused on housing issues in high-cost small cities. The housing panels brought together housing planners, developers, advocates and others from communities all around […]
The Fair Housing Act at 50: Local Planning for Housing Opportunity
April 10, 2018

The Fair Housing Act at 50: Local Planning for Housing Opportunity

Since the passage of the Fair Housing Act, overt discrimination in housing market transactions based on race has declined significantly. However, fifty years out from the adoption of the Fair Housing Act, the nation’s long history of both explicit and implicit racial bias means that there remain persistent inequalities in access to housing in high-quality […]
April 11, 2017

Immigrants and the Suburban Dream

Over the past two decades, immigrants have fueled the growth of suburban communities all across the country. And in the years to come, one of the greatest sources of housing demand in the country—and particularly in the suburbs—will be from people who come to the United States from other countries. New research I recently completed […]