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SF rents hit $4,257 for a 2BR—highest in US—as AI hiring collides with decades of underbuilding. The cause is scarcity. Supply hasn't grown. Bidding wars have. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/a...

What's killing condos in California? How do housing laws get more teeth? Is there a power to...positivity? 🔈️ Tune into the conversation w/ @mnolangray.bsky.social and @progresschamber.org www.therebuild.pub/p/from-book-...

America's zoning laws, built for 1950s suburbia, still block the housing types most needed today. Experts say loosening them could add homes without more sprawl, but only if cities also relearn how to plan streets and infrastructure. www.vox.com/the-highligh...

Austin built 81,000 apartments in 4 years. Rent dropped $250 a month, and landlords now offer deals to fill homes. Homes give renters power; fighting them does not. via @progresschamber.org www.therebuild.pub/p/austin-bui...

Rents in San Diego are down 5.7%, but the data show it's supply, not immigration policy, driving the decline. San Diego built more apartments, and Austin's 21.5% rent drop came the same way, after building 120,000 homes in a decade. www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/e...

A 12-year run of building code updates raised apartment construction costs by nearly 10%, adding $222 to the break-even rent developers need in LA. www.huduser.gov/portal/pdred...

Housing wins aren't luck. They're organized. SB 79, City of Yes, Cambridge's reforms, & now ROAD to Housing Act. Aug 4, 4P PT: the people behind those wins — incl. @mnolangray.bsky.social & @hanlon.bsky.social — get in 1 (virtual) room. RSVP: voteburhan.com/housing Host: @burhanazeem.bsky.social

As someone that has landmarked 3 different structures (in Nebraska), I find “landmarking” historically insignificant buildings & sites to diminish the meaning & value of actual historic sites.

SF just upzoned huge areas for new housing ...then landmarked 75 sites within them, blocking redevelopment on each one, since state law lets historic status do what CEQA reviews used to do to slow projects. thefrisc.com/whats-drivin...

Home insurance premiums jumped 46% since 2018, nearly double inflation. Now, 1 in 6 new buyers spends over 3% of their income on insurance alone, with low-income homeowners paying the highest rates relative to their property values. www.urban.org/urban-wire/h...

Regulation now adds $131,734 to a typical new home—26% of the price—with building codes alone costing $40,288, according to NAHB. Congress's ROAD Act may help, but most of that cost comes from local rules the bill doesn't reach. www.housingwire.com/articles/cod...

A Menlo Park ballot measure, framed as a parking issue, would require citywide votes before any downtown affordable housing gets built It's the same tactic that slowed housing statewide under a 1950s law. davisvanguard.org/2026/06/menl...

LA will allow 4-story buildings with up to 16 units on lots once zoned single-family-only, across 57 areas This is short of SB 79's full 6- to 9-story allowance near transit, but the new allowance starts now. www.latimes.com/california/s...

California's building code requires two stairwells in mid-size apartments. Research shows dropping one could cut costs 10% with no added fire risk, since cities like New York already build safely with just one. besi.berkeley.edu/publication/...

LA kept its transfer tax on new apartments unchanged, so building costs there stay higher than for other property types. It's one reason why advocates say apartment construction has lagged since the tax began in 2023. mynewsla.com/government/2...

In 8 transit-heavy counties, California just overrode local zoning near stations, so cities can no longer block new homes. Advocates say it could add over a million homes. LA is using an option open to develop its own plan to ultimately comply by 2030. pro.stateaffairs.com/ca/housing/s...

Brisbane missed its deadline to rezone for new homes, so the state stripped its power to block housing there. Builders can now skip city approval—one of only three CA cities to have its housing plan decertified this way. www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

San Mateo's first SB 79 application: one single-family house near Caltrain could become 20 homes. A law written to encourage more homes near transit is doing exactly that. www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/s...

Portland, Maine, tightened inclusionary zoning in 2020: 25% set-aside or $182K fee. Its own study found completed homes collapsed from 1,436 to 167, and approval-to-completion rates fell from 80% to 10%. Fewer affordable homes, & fewer homes overall. mainepolicy.substack.com/p/portland-s...

Downtown Nashville added nearly 25,000 homes in 5 years, more than any other neighborhood cluster nationally. Half the top growth areas were former office or industrial land; 15 of the top 20 fastest-growing blocks sit near transit. www.urban.org/urban-wire/w...