Our Top 10 Posts This Week
Here are our top 10 most popular posts from the week:
The Unintended Consequences of Housing Finance introduces the RPA report we covered this week and advocates for a shift in federal mortgage policy to allow for the creation of more mixed-use multifamily housing.
Our #BuildHereNow - Crowdsourced Optimism campaign kicked off the week and generated dozens of social media posts of empty lots and buildings around the country that you'd like to see filled. View them all here.
"Our neighborhoods, our cities, and our commitment to each other would improve if more of us lived in places where 'bumping into someone on the street' doesn’t involve heavy traffic and a fender bender." ~ Want Community? Build Walkability by Sarah Kobos
"The DNA of our cities is composed of many things, but a principle component is financing. The way we finance buildings -- the options that are made available in the marketplace -- shapes everything else. Make those options flexible and we'll get a broad diversity of housing types, styles and price points in an adaptable marketplace. Make those options rigid and narrowly-focused and we'll get large distortions in supply and demand along with communities that are inherently fragile." ~ The Distorted DNA of Your Community by Charles Marohn
We shared this graphic: So you Think Housing is a Free Market? created by Matthias Leyrer (see image to the right).
In Suburban Poverty: Hiding in Plain Sight, Daniel Herriges shares photographs and research on Florida, a state that went all in on the suburban experiment and is now paying the price.
Americans Want Walkable Neighborhoods shares data proving the demand for walkable neighborhoods and argues that federal policy needs to change to allow developers to meet that demand.
"Small changes in federal rules -- changes that don't even require the approval of Congress to enact -- could unleash trillions of dollars of investment in struggling neighborhoods all over the country." ~ A Simple Housing Reform That Will Supercharge Neighborhood Investment (and costs nothing) by Charles Marohn
Monte Anderson is a developer from the wrong side of town. Instead of fleeing for greener pastures and easier money, however, he stayed in his community and worked to make it better. He explains how he did it in this podcast interview: The Developer who was Desperate to Save a Struggling Neighborhood.
Strong Towns member Steven Shultis wrote about his life in inner-city Springfield where many low-income residents face health issues, unemployment, deteriorating infrastructure and no way to get out. Read the piece: What Concentrated Poverty Looks Like in Inner-City Springfield.
(Top photo by Johnny Sanphillippo)