Top 5 Stories from the Week (April 8–April 12, 2019)

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1. Strongest Town Contest: Championship Round

April 8-12, 2019

This week, Pensacola, FL and Portsmouth, NH competed for the crown in our 4th annual Strongest Town Contest. Representatives of both cities appeared in a live webcast… and on Friday morning, we crowned a victor. Click through to find out who it was!

2. Who Benefits From Lower Housing Prices?

by Charles Marohn | April 9, 2019

It’s hard to have a coherent conversation on affordable housing when most of those involved in the discussion directly benefit from — and in some ways depend on — higher housing prices.

3. Routine Traffic Stops Should Not Be Used to Fight Violent Crime

by Charles Marohn | April 8, 2019

Using routine traffic stops as a pretext to root out other types of crime is as disingenuous as it is unhelpful. We need to design intuitively safe streets—and then use traffic enforcement for the minority of drivers who are actually driving recklessly.

4. Housing Markets Should Be More Like Supermarkets

by Austin Maitland | April 4, 2019

In many areas of modern life, the market provides a cornucopia of choices to accommodate people’s diverse needs, wants, and tastes: just visit a supermarket to see this. When it comes to housing options, though, the reality is starkly different.

5. Doing the Math on Housing the Homeless

by Alexander Dukes | April 9, 2019

What would it actually cost to put a roof over the head of every person experiencing chronic homelessness? Some number crunching suggests not as much as you think, and an amount we could afford—especially given what it already costs not to.

(Cover image courtesy of Quint Studer)