Yonah Freemark

@[email protected]
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43 Posts
Cities + Transport + Housing + Land Use + Politics | Le progrès ne vaut que s'il est partagé par tous / http://yonahfreemark.com / http://thetransportpolitic.com
Urban Institutehttps://urban.org
The Transport Politichttps://thetransportpolitic.com
Yonah Freemarkhttps://yonahfreemark.com
Yonah FreemarkJan 13, 2023
Rob PegoraroJan 12, 2023
It's an early-January treat to read @yfreemark's annual list of the transit projects around the world set to open over the rest of the year; this year's version also notes the countries opening the most kilometers of fixed-guideway service, and it's a pleasant surprise to see the U.S. rank first. https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2023/01/12/openings-and-construction-starts-planned-for-2023/
Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2023

1,100 kilometers of new transit lines from Canada to Saudi Arabia will open in 2023.

The Transport Politic
Show threadYonah FreemarkJan 9, 2023

These data illustrate that one way to encourage better land-use policies among the most exclusionary municipalities may be to leverage state & federal funds. Their use could be conditioned on policies that allow housing production.

Read the report here:
https://www.urban.org/research/publication/tracing-the-money

Tracing the Money

In this paper, we conduct case studies of eight municipalities that exhibit particularly exclusionary tendencies.

Urban Institute
Show threadYonah FreemarkJan 9, 2023
Among our case-study cities, we found that several of them receive a large share of their budgetary funding from states & feds through intergovernmental support. This is not true for all cities however; University Park, TX, a suburb of Dallas, receives virtually none.
Show threadYonah FreemarkJan 9, 2023

The rich, exclusionary cities we selected for this analysis were in CA, FL, MI, NY, OH & TX.

When we compared their zoning rules with those of nearby cities, we found that they are *much* more restrictive. They reserve 75%+ of their residential land for single-family homes only.

Show threadYonah FreemarkJan 9, 2023
We selected cities nationwide that had the lowest increase in additional housing since 2000—but also had a growing regional housing market & strong local demand for housing, as evidenced by local real-estate prices, using this data: https://www.urban.org/research/publication/homing-in
Homing In

Using data from 2000 to 2020, I find that municipalities with lower home values and residents with lower incomes, less educational attainment, and more moderate ideological views had less housing growth.

Urban Institute
Yonah FreemarkJan 9, 2023
In new Urban Institute report, we examine 8 of the US cities that have built the least housing since 2000. They:
—Have very restrictive zoning
—Receive a large share of revenues from state & fed sources https://www.urban.org/research/publication/tracing-the-money
Tracing the Money

In this paper, we conduct case studies of eight municipalities that exhibit particularly exclusionary tendencies.

Urban Institute
Show threadYonah FreemarkJan 5, 2023

Are areas near transit stations in the Puget Sound planning to accommodate new housing? The region has many new lines planned in the coming years.

But 40% of land near transit is restricted to single-family homes. Almost all new construction has been in multifamily zones.

Show threadYonah FreemarkJan 5, 2023

Our research offers new insight into housing conditions in the Seattle region.

Our investigation shows that housing production has not matched growth in recent decades. Despite Seattle building more per-capita housing than most other regions recently, construction slowed.

Yonah FreemarkJan 5, 2023

We released a report at Urban Institute today on land-use policies & housing in the Puget Sound.

Our research estimates zoning constraints, potential zoning "envelopes," & likely construction given the market. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/making-room-housing-near-transit

Making Room for Housing near Transit: Zoning's Promise and Barriers

In addition to the report detailing our findings, we present a companion product that includes an analysis of potential policy reforms for each of 35 municipalities and unincorporated areas in the Puget Sound region, with maps representing neighborhoods in each community within a half–mile of transit stations.

Urban Institute
Yonah FreemarkDec 23, 2022
Show threadSandy JohnstonDec 23, 2022

Yonah with a key question:

---
RT @yfreemark
What’s interesting about the program is that it could be formulated explicitly as a “carrot” program; locality does X, federal government gives locality grant.

But what should that X be? Zoning changes? Housing trust funds? Assistance for development projects? Time will tell.
https://twitter.com/yfreemark/status/1606082433618571264

Yonah Freemark on Twitter

“What’s interesting about the program is that it could be formulated explicitly as a “carrot” program; locality does X, federal government gives locality grant. But what should that X be? Zoning changes? Housing trust funds? Assistance for development projects? Time will tell.”

Twitter