Harvard Economist Ed Glaeser wrote an opinion piece in the New York Sun about the differences in housing affordability and other costs of living between Houston and New York.New York is naturally more expensive than Houston because the geographical constraints force higher density development, … [Read more...]
Amateur Economist: Zoning Hurts Housing Affordability
G.L.C. at Amateur Economist wrote an informative article on zoning, an issue which always gets attention at Market Urbanism - Why Zoning Laws Are No Longer a Benefit to U.S. Home BuyersVirtually every town in the United States has zoning laws which affect land use, lot size, building heights, … [Read more...]
Rangel Now Only Hoards Three Rent Controlled Apartments
Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel has announced that he will vacate the rent controlled apartment he has been using as a campaign office. This apartment is just one of four rent controlled apartments he is hoarding in the Lenox Terrace apartment building in Harlem.NY Times - Rangel to … [Read more...]
Congressman Rangel Legally Plunders $30,000/year in Four Rent Controlled Apartments
[update! Rangel Now Only Hoards Three Rent Controlled Apartments] In case you missed it, powerful New York Congressman Charlie Rangel has been hoarding four apartments in Harlem's Lenox Terrace. Coincidently (perhaps not so coincidently) Lennox Terrace is the same building where New York's … [Read more...]
Subsidies and Taxes Favor Owning Over Renting
Paul Krugman asks a question that has been addressed at Market Urbansim:But here’s a question rarely asked, at least in Washington: Why should ever-increasing homeownership be a policy goal? How many people should own homes, anyway?Listening to politicians, you’d think that every family … [Read more...]
Socialist Cities
So, you think the planners in your area are taking something a little too far? Be glad you aren't in Venezuela...I wish I could link to the article by Michael Mehaffy in The Urban Land Institute's May edition of Urban Land titled "Venezuela's New Socialist Cities", but ULI doesn't provide the … [Read more...]
Bush’s “Ownership Society” and Subprime
From Rationalitate - The WaPo finally realizes the root cause of the subprime crisisAgencies like FHA and HUD, and pseudo-private agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, were the government's tool to manipulate the market for mortgages, and manipulate it they did: 40% of all mortgages are … [Read more...]
Want Density? Turn the Free Market Loose
Matthew Yglesias - What Price Density The solution, as Ryan Avent says, is to build denser communities. We ought to build more transit infrastructure, of course, but it's cheaper to use what we already have more intensively. And, of course, it's more practical to build new infrastructure if there's … [Read more...]