Tootfinder

Housing Price commentary - recognizing that housing costs are a function of many variables, and merely changing zoning may not reduce costs.:
https://www.planningreport.com/2025/07/22/dear-atlantic-stop-publishing-propaganda-housing…

Housing Price commentary - recognizing that housing costs are a function of many variables, and merely changing zoning may not reduce costs.:
https://www.planningreport.com/2025/07/22/dear-atlantic-stop-publishing-propaganda-housing…

NFL employee seriously injured in NYC shooting https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45848952/nfl-employee-seriously-injured-deadly-shooting-tower-housing-league-hq

Warren Statement on Bipartisan Housing Package Advancing Unanimously Out of Banking Committee (United States Committee on Banking ...)
https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/warren-statement-on-bipartisan-housing-package-advancing-unanimously-out-of-banking-committee
http://www.memeorandum.com/250729/p165#a250729p165

A new report sheds light on potential conflicts of interest in
Bill Pulte’s attack against Lisa Cook
and other White House enemies.
Before Donald Trump appointed him to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency,
Bill Pulte was best known to the public as the scion of a homebuilding empire
and an extremely online investor
who hawked various meme stocks and cryptocurrencies on Twitter.
In government, however,
Pulte has gained more notoriety as an …

This Terrifying Company Is Being Used Against Top Democrats. Trump’s Allies May Be Profiting From It.
A new report sheds light on potential conflicts of interest in Bill Pulte’s attack against Lisa Cook and other White House enemies.

Stolen Ukrainian housing being re-sold in occupied Donetsk Oblast: https://benborges.xyz/2025/08/27/stolen-ukrainian-housing-being-resold.html

Gentrification feedback loop. As SF displaces its working class, Area Median Income rises, raising the rent levels for “affordable” housing, which further displaces and excludes working-class households, so AMI rises again… and a 1-bedroom for $2,900 is now defined as low-income housing.
#sfpol #housing

🛣️ Albuquerque’s Route 66 Motels Are Turning Into Affordable Housing
#housing

Albuquerque's Route 66 Motels Are Turning Into Affordable Housing
Amid the ongoing housing crisis, once-dilapidated buildings are finding new life as homes for immigrants and other working-class New Mexicans.

Key takeaway is at end of this article [gift link].
Sales of new exurban houses are falling, but there's unmet demand for urban infill. If cities & inner suburbs repeal offstreet parking mandates & cut minimum lot sizes, builders will keep building.

As Housing Demand Continues to Fall, Builders Get Creative
A slow start to the home building market this year has prompted some builders to increase incentives and build on smaller lots.

A New Rail Line May Come to New York. Will a Housing Boom Follow?
The Interborough Express, a rail line connecting Brooklyn and Queens, could spur the building of tens of thousands of homes. Obstacles await.
#ibx

This is a good outcome.
Now the government must give asylum to all likely to get it anyway, allow asylum seekers to do paid work, and advocate positively for their right to come here and seek sanctuary.
(Not holding my breath as Starmer is a Reform / #POX enabler).
Asylum seekers to remain at Epping hotel after court of appeal revokes ban | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian

"The lack of an announced successor space for the National Science Foundation and accusations of largesse to the Housing and Urban Development secretary have swirled since the proposal was unveiled last week."
Virginia lawmakers demand answers on Trump’s planned ‘displacement’ of NSF - Government Executive
https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/06/virginia-lawmakers-demand-answers-trumps-planned-displacement-nsf/406429/

Sources: 2 shot at NYC building housing NFL HQ https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45845911/2-shot-shooting-breaks-nyc-building-housing-nfl-hq-sources-say

New York City ought to immediately initiate eminent domain proceedings and seize every trump or trump org family owned building in the city.
On what grounds:
Because of false statements and failure to abide by agreements with the city.
For instance, tromp-tower was built in violation of an agreement to preserve aspects of the Bonwitt-Teller building.
And the city does have need of space for homeless and low income housing.
If the maga's can fire people based…

"As a collective of homeless and marginally housed mothers, Moms 4 Housing organizes to reclaim vacant property warehoused by investors. In 2020, another group of mothers began squatting in vacant foreclosed properties owned by Philadelphia’s Housing Authority (PHA)." ❤️‍🔥
https://rosalux.nyc/self-help-housing/

We have a working 2nd exit thanks to the ankle killer #Uckermark #project25 #weeding

> The stabbing is understood to have taken place near consultancy firm Prospira Global and housing provider Trademark Homes.
The BBC have made a choice here in how to report that location. I don't condemn the decision, I'm just sad that it had to be made.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz71wj…

Man arrested after two stabbed to death at Bermondsey business
A man, aged 31, is arrested following the stabbing deaths of two people in south-east London.

Leveraging Multi-Source Textural UGC for Neighbourhood Housing Quality Assessment: A GPT-Enhanced Framework
Qiyuan Hong, Huimin Zhao, Ying Long
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.16657 …

Leveraging Multi-Source Textural UGC for Neighbourhood Housing Quality Assessment: A GPT-Enhanced Framework
This study leverages GPT-4o to assess neighbourhood housing quality using multi-source textural user-generated content (UGC) from Dianping, Weibo, and the Government Message Board. The analysis involves filtering relevant texts, extracting structured evaluation units, and conducting sentiment scoring. A refined housing quality assessment system with 46 indicators across 11 categories was developed, highlighting an objective-subjective method gap and platform-specific differences in focus. GPT-4…

join the DSA SF social housing reading group!!
next Tuesday 7/22 7pm in person
#sfPol

Social Housing Reading Group
What could social housing look like in San Francisco, and how do we get there? Join DSASF for a reading of the Budget and Legislative Analyst's report on how the city can build its own publicly owned, deeply affordable housing. We will also read the SF Berniecrats report, Housing for the 99%, which lays out a vision for social housing for all in San Francisco.

I'm nervous about Southend being combined with Rochford and Castle Point - will those rural councils understand our urban needs? It risks a change in character and priorities.
We already share the same bus and train transport network. We need nearby councils working with us to grow the city, as we have no fields to build on.
Our neighbours often build car-focused housing and send us the traffic. Will they embrace city life? Will they force us to build roads? Risks and opport…

Reform UK councillor in Burnley accused of ‘whipping up misinformation’
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/politic

Reform UK councillor in Burnley accused of ‘whipping up misinformation’
Rumours of migrant housing resulted in an arson attack in Burnley, the council fights back online

🤦🏿‍♂️ A company tried to put real estate on the Blockchain and now it's facing a lawsuit from the city of Detroit
#detroit

A Company Tried to Put Real Estate on the Blockchain and Now It's Facing a Legal Disaster
Detroit is waging legal battle against an international crypto scheme which is gobbling up low-incoming housing for profit.

Podcast host Jon Lovett, a former aide to former President Barack Obama: "This is an emergency. We should all be freaking out about how urgent it is to do anything humanly possible to build housing,” he said, “and you’re worried about whether or not there’s a place for a few senior citizens to sit outside a building.”
Think about that for a moment. How does this align with all of the research around outdoor access, windows with views, and general health? How does this address th…

Podcast host Jon Lovett, a former aide to former President Barack Obama: "This is an emergency. We should all be freaking out about how urgent it is to do anything humanly possible to build housing,” he said, “and you’re worried about whether or not there’s a place for a few senior citizens to sit outside a building.”
Think about that for a moment. How does this align with all of the research around outdoor access, windows with views, and general health? How does this address th…

Wrong question IMHO. Trying to make housing in London 'affordable' by just building more is a mistaken approach.
Instead re-think growth obsession focus all energy on growing the social housing stock rent controls on privet rent. Aim it all at lowering land prices and housing prices.
Unless the building is by a public body it would be so hard to avoid car-heavy executive homes in GB.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is preparing to
💥shut down seven major investigations and cases concerning alleged housing discrimination and segregation, including
⚠️ some where the agency already found civil rights violations, according to HUD records obtained by ProPublica.
The high-profile cases involve allegations that state and local governments across the South and Midwest illegally discriminated against people of color
by placing industrial…

Trump Administration Prepares to Drop Seven Major Housing Discrimination Cases
Federal housing officials spent years investigating cities from Chicago to Memphis to Corpus Christi for putting industrial plants and unwanted facilities in poor, nonwhite neighborhoods. Now, under Trump, the agency plans to drop the cases.

27% of families in New York City with children and income below $100,000 live in apartments with more than two people per bedroom. [gift link] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/26/nyregion/nyc-overcrowding-h…

The Hidden Victims of New York’s Worsening Housing Crisis
Thousands of people don’t have stable housing, sleeping on floors and couches and packed into too-small bedrooms. But they are not considered to be homeless.

How popular media gets love wrong
Now a bit of background about why I have this "engineered" model of love:
First, I'm a white straight cis man. I've got a few traits that might work against my relationship chances (e.g., neurodivergence; I generally fit pretty well into the "weird geek" stereotype), but as I was recently reminded, it's possible my experience derives more from luck than other factors, and since things are tilted more in my favor than most people on the planet, my advice could be worse than useless if it leads people towards strategies that would only have worked for someone like me. I don't *think* that's the case, but it's worth mentioning explicitly.
When I first started dating my now-wife, we were both in graduate school. I was 26, and had exactly zero dating/romantic experience though that point in my life. In other words, a pretty stereotypical "incel" although I definitely didn't subscribe to incel ideology at all. I felt lonely, and vaguely wanted a romantic relationship (I'm neither aromantic nor asexual), but had never felt socially comfortable enough to pursue one before. I don't drink and dislike most social gatherings like parties or bars; I mostly hung around the fringes of the few college parties I attended, and although I had a reasonable college social life in terms of friends, I didn't really do anything to pursue romance, feeling too awkward to know where to start. I had the beginnings of crushes in both high school and college, but never developed a really strong crush, probably correlated with not putting myself in many social situations outside of close all-male friend gatherings. I never felt remotely comfortable enough to act on any of the proto-crushes I did have. I did watch porn and masturbate, so one motivation for pursuing a relationship was physical intimacy, but loneliness was as much of a motivating factor, and of course the social pressure to date was a factor too, even though I'm quite contrarian.
When I first started dating my now-wife, we were both in graduate school. I was 26, and had exactly zero dating/romantic experience though that point in my life. In other words, a pretty stereotypical "incel" although I definitely didn't subscribe to incel ideology at all. I felt lonely, and vaguely wanted a romantic relationship (I'm neither aromantic nor asexual), but had never felt socially comfortable enough to pursue one before. I don't drink and dislike most social gatherings like parties or bars; I mostly hung around the fringes of the few college parties I attended, and although I had a reasonable college social life in terms of friends, I didn't really do anything to pursue romance, feeling too awkward to know where to start. I had the beginnings of crushes in both high school and college, but never developed a really strong crush, probably correlated with not putting myself in many social situations outside of close all-male friend gatherings. I never felt remotely comfortable enough to act on any of the proto-crushes I did have. I did watch porn and masturbate, so one motivation for pursuing a relationship was physical intimacy, but loneliness was as much of a motivating factor, and of course the social pressure to date was a factor too, even though I'm quite contrarian.
I'm lucky in that I had some mixed-gender social circles already like intramural soccer and a graduate-student housing potluck. Graduate school makes a *lot* more of these social spaces accessible, so I recognize that those not in school of some sort have a harder time of things, especially if like me they don't feel like they fit in in typical adult social spaces like bars.
However, at one point I just decided that my desire for a relationship would need action on my part and so I'd try to build a relationship and see what happened. I worked up my courage and asked one of the people in my potluck if she'd like to go for a hike (pretty much clearly a date but not explicitly one; in retrospect not the best first-date modality in a lot of ways, but it made a little more sense in our setting where we could go for a hike from our front door). To emphasize this point: I was not in love with (or even infatuated with) my now-wife at that point. I made a decision to be open to building a relationship, but didn't follow the typical romance story formula beyond that. Now of course, in real life as opposed to popular media, this isn't anything special. People ask each other out all the time just because they're lonely, and some of those relationships turn out fine (although many do not).
I was lucky in that some aspects of who I am and what I do happened to be naturally comforting to my wife (natural advantage in the "appeal" model of love) but of course there are some aspects of me that annoy my wife, and we negotiate that. In the other direction, there's some things I instantly liked about my wife, and other things that still annoy me. We've figured out how to accept a little, change a little, and overall be happy with each other (though we do still have arguments; it's not like the operation/construction/maintenance of the "love mechanism" is always perfectly smooth). In particular though, I approached the relationship with the attitude of "I want to try to build a relationship with this person," at first just because of my own desires for *any* relationship, and then gradually more and more through my desire to build *this specific* relationship as I enjoyed the rewards of companionship.
So for example, while I think my wife is objectively beautiful, she's also *subjectively* very beautiful *to me* because having decided to build a relationship with her, I actively tried to see her as beautiful, rather than trying to judge whether I wanted a relationship with her based on her beauty. In other words, our relationship is more causative of her beauty-to-me than her beauty-to-me is causative of our relationship. This is the biggest way I think the "engineered" model of love differs from the "fire" and "appeal" models: you can just decide to build love independent of factors we typically think of as engendering love (NOT independent of your partner's willingness to participate, of course), and then all of those things like "thinking your partner is beautiful" can be a result of the relationship you're building. For sure those factors might affect who is willing to try building a relationship with you in the first place, but if more people were willing to jump into relationship building (not necessarily with full commitment from the start) without worrying about those other factors, they might find that those factors can come out of the relationship instead of being prerequisites for it. I think this is the biggest failure of the "appeal" model in particular: yes you *do* need to do things that appeal to your partner, but it's not just "make myself lovable" it's also: is your partner putting in the effort to see the ways that you are beautiful/lovable/etc., or are they just expecting you to become exactly some perfect person they've imagined (and/or been told to desire by society)? The former is perfectly possible, and no less satisfying than the latter.
To cut off my rambling a bit here, I'll just add that in our progress from dating through marriage through staying-married, my wife and I have both talked at times explicitly about commitment, and especially when deciding to get married, I told her that I knew I couldn't live up to the perfect model of a husband that I'd want to be, but that if she wanted to deepen our commitment, I was happy to do that, and so we did. I also rearranged my priorities at that point, deciding that I knew I wanted to prioritize this relationship above things like my career or my research interests, and while I've not always been perfect at that in my little decisions, I've been good at holding to that in my big decisions at least. In the end, *once we had built a somewhat-committed relationship*, we had something that we both recognized was worth more than most other things in life, and that let us commit even more, thus getting even more out of it in the long term. Obviously you can't start the first date with an expectation of life-long commitment, and you need to synchronize your increasing commitment to a relationship so that it doesn't become lopsided, which is hard. But if you take the commitment as an active decision and as the *precursor* to things like infatuation, attraction, etc., you can build up to something that's incredibly strong and rewarding.
I'll follow this up with one more post trying to distill some advice from my ramblings.
#relationships #love

"Of mushrooms and mycelium: How fungi are powering eco-friendly solutions"
#Mushrooms #Fungi

Of mushrooms and mycelium: How fungi are powering eco-friendly solutions
Often hidden from view, fungi are a critical part of our ecosystems. Some can be eaten as mushrooms; others help trees and forests thrive. But that’s not all: they’re also helping us create low-cost, sustainable housing materials and additional income for farmers, says Gabriela D’Elia, director of the Fungal Diversity Survey and a fungi enthusiast, […]

This is very cool!
#housing #zoning #video

Court blocks Trump's anti-LGBTQ restrictions on grants in health and housing
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2025/07/25/court-blocks-trumps-anti-lgbtq-restrictions-on-grants-in-health-and-housing/

“The Founders of This New Development Say You Must Be White to Live There”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/realestate/arkansas-white-housing-return-to-land.html
I may be ok with these folks self-selecting out of the broader communit…

4 killed in shooting at building housing NFL headquarters; no clear league connection https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6521724/2025/07/28/new-york-shooting-nfl-headquarters-office-building/

Shifting Narratives: A Longitudinal Analysis of Media Trends and Public Attitudes on Homelessness
Akshay Irudayaraj (Brown University), Nathan Ye (University of California--Berkeley), Yash Chainani (University of California--Berkeley)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.21794

Shifting Narratives: A Longitudinal Analysis of Media Trends and Public Attitudes on Homelessness
Within the field of media framing, homelessness has been a historically under-researched topic. Framing theory states that the media's method of presenting information plays a pivotal role in controlling public sentiment toward a topic. The sentiment held towards homeless individuals influences their ability to access jobs, housing, and resources as a result of discrimination. This study analyzes the topic and sentiment trends in related media articles to validate framing theory within the scop…

NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's focus on affordable housing and climate change, particularly Local Law 97, could shape the city's future. #climatechange #climatesolutions #climate

Climate Law Could Shape the Race for New York City’s Next Mayor
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, has vowed to strictly enforce the measure, Local Law 97, which calls for potentially expensive upgrades to buildings to curb greenhouse emissions.

If the abundance people were in any way shape or form serious, they'd talk less about magical growth without harms but taking away billionaires' money to lift everyone else up to a decent life.
If their theory worked, the rich folks would be very rich quickly. But why should poorer people wait to eat, have healthcare and safe housing until the magic wealth appears?
It sounds very inconsistent.

A broken housing market is driving inequality right across Europe – and fuelling the far right https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/26/broken-housing-market-inequality-europe-far-right?CMP=S…

I have always been a copyright sceptic but I wouldn't have wished AI to be the force to crash it. Time to think for new models of how to keep writing and music alive. Maybe a society deciding to prioritize guaranteeing giving everyone the possibility of a safe basic income, food, housing and health care instead of forcing them into competition hell could help? Maybe?

🏘️ Will we ever get enough housing? The future holds promise
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-10/home-2050
🆓 https://

Will we ever get enough housing? Here are reasons to say 'yes'
How can we achieve more and better housing? Denser neighborhoods. Smaller homes, some modular or printed in 3-D. Properties co-owned. ADUs sold separately.

Just came from a public comment session at the Planning Commission that was pretty depressing in terms of what the YIMBY movement in SF has become, and how far it has fallen from its original ideal of housing for everyone. #sfpol #housing
SF YIMBY mobilized speaker after speaker to call for cutting $4…

How Google, Meta, and Apple's pledges to spend billions on new Silicon Valley housing failed to meet expectations; Apple spent $1.6B by July 2024, the most (Nicole Friedman/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/tech-compa…

We have long had problems with slumlords in the US.
And we have long had codes related to habitability standards in residential buildings.
What #MayorLurie could do is direct the Dept of Public Health and Dept of building inspection to review these codes, and perhaps even more importantly what the penalties are for non-compliance, and work with the departments and if needed state …

Mayor Lurie makes marathon visits to S.F. low-income housing. But what can he do?
Mayor Lurie visited two neighborhoods and six subsidized housing complexes over the past month. Tenants are hoping for change.

We have long had problems with slumlords in the US.
And we have long had codes related to habitability standards in residential buildings.
What #MayorLurie could do is direct the Dept of Public Health and Dept of building inspection to review these codes, and perhaps even more importantly what the penalties are for non-compliance, and work with the departments and if needed state …

Mayor Lurie makes marathon visits to S.F. low-income housing. But what can he do?
Mayor Lurie visited two neighborhoods and six subsidized housing complexes over the past month. Tenants are hoping for change.

🏗️ Tear it down they said... but he kept on building
(looks like China has an answer to the Watts Towers!)
#buildings #housing #china

Tear It Down, They Said. He Just Kept Building.
Defying demolition orders, a Chinese man turned his home into a rickety 11-story tower. Now tourists are coming.

Arkansas Housing Development Restricted to White Residents Sparks Legal Concerns (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/realestate/arkansas-white-housing-return-to-land.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fU8.49QC.VSbVOZBewcfm&smid=url-share
http://www.memeorandum.com/250819/p114#a250819p114

WGBH, Boston’s PBS station, had this sign up this morning.

While the nation faces record housing unaffordability and homelessness, HUD is pushing massive cuts and a move to Virginia - Streetlight
https://streetlightnews.org/hud-headquarters-move/

The far right is surging in the United States,
driven in part by white nationalists exploiting economic anxieties
and a populace increasingly frustrated with the political status quo.
Now, as the Trump administration rolls back diversity, equity and inclusion policies,
cracks down on immigration and offers pardons to white supremacists,
some see an opening.
In creating their community, the founders of "Return to the Land" are challenging anti-d…

Arkansas Housing Development Restricted to White Residents Sparks Legal Concerns
Housing rights experts say a community restricted to white residents is illegal, but the creators believe they could win a potential challenge in court in the current political climate.

The Evolving Homefront: Millennials Stay Put as Older Buyers Dominate the Market
Penn Mutual Asset Management - July 24, 2025
“While housing demand may soften due to economic pressures, strong rental demand is expected to continue, particularly among younger adults navigating high costs and limited financial flexibility.”

The Evolving Homefront: Millennials Stay Put as Older Buyers Dominate the Market | Penn Mutual Asset Management, LLC
Penn Mutual Asset Management is committed to serving the institutional marketplace by offering fixed income investment solutions and client-focused services

Labour housing plans could destroy 215,000 hectares of nature in England, analysis shows https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/10/building-regulations-nature-biodiversity-analysis-england

@… Hi JP - I am pleased to encounter you here, as I have been involved with the various Scottish co-housing groups for about a year now. Sadly, things are going much more slowly here than in England, where there are many different variants being tried out.
Where are you active yourself?

The asylum seeker bashers in Dutch parliament - a 2/3 majority - just voted to end priority status of recognised refugees in allocating housing.
The govt organization responsible for shelter is worried about the consequences. Keeping refugees in emergency locations for years will cost billions.

Well, we have some advance notice. Can we take advantage? Can we find some candidate not deluded by the neoliberal myth, the simplistic YIMBY faith that the market will provide affordable housing?
https://bsky.app/profile/laurajnelson.bsky.social/post/3lsmkny…

Well, the Trump Sales Tax (tariffs) are starting to hit. Here is a shovel-ready project for nearly 400 housing units (many for low income) here in Santa Cruz, that is being terminated in large part because of the costs and inflationary effects of FFOTUS' crazy tariff mania.
"Developer backs out of 389 apartments on Ocean St. in Santa Cruz"

lovely overview of social housing's benefits and recent social housing successes in the US! https://theconversation.com/from-seattle-to-atlanta-new-social-housing-programs-seek-to…

From Seattle to Atlanta, new social housing programs seek to make homes permanently affordable for a range of incomes
Americans are realizing that the country’s two-tiered system of market-rate housing and government-operated, low-income housing isn’t doing the trick.

📉 Home, but not safe: How poor housing is harming health
#housing

Home, but not safe: How poor housing is harming health
When Israelis think about health, they may picture hospitals, doctors, or the rising cost of prescription drugs. But a new integrative study by Jordan Hannink Attal (Hebrew University and the University of Melbourne) and Prof. Yehuda Neumark (Hebrew University) suggests the most important factor may be much closer to home—literally.

For those considering #SanFrancisco's Upzoning Plan (aka #FamilyZoningPlan) , predicated on letting for profit developers build higher and denser, we have some data:
"London boroughs with the greatest number of these rental property developments, rents have increased by 48% to 5…

A classic. Reporter fails to pay attention to what the nimbys actually say.
Reporter: Critics fear that [very modest] upzone won't produce "housing that is actually affordable for county residents"
Then quotes critic who fears it will "just provide more affordably priced rental units"
https://…

Housing, food and energy security are “more important now than ever with climate change,”
Haíɫzaqv Hereditary Chief λšλíya sila, Frank Brown, says. 
“Housing is a human right.
It’s imperative we make some progress around ensuring people have adequate housing and that it’s appropriate for the threats that are coming.”
https://

Heiltsuk Nation is building for the climate crisis | The Narwhal
The B.C. First Nation is building energy efficient, affordable homes grounded in culture

Hugh knew.
Right to buy in England ‘fuelled housing crisis and cost taxpayers £200bn’ | Housing | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/03/right-to-buy-england-fuelled-housing-crisis-cost-…

Katie Wilson, ahead in early results in Seattle's primary for mayor, emphasized housing in her platform.
But not the SF YIMBY vision of upzoning/market-rate only while slashing affordable housing funds. SOCIAL housing with major public investment.
Who will run for SF supervisor next year on that?
https://www.w…

For those considering #SanFrancisco's Upzoning Plan (aka #FamilyZoningPlan) , predicated on letting for profit developers build higher and denser, we have some data:
"London boroughs with the greatest number of these rental property developments, rents have increased by 48% to 5…

NYC Mayoral Candidate Mamdani Seeks $70 Billion of Debt to Fund Affordable Housing (Martin Z Braun/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-17/mamdani-seeks-70-billion-of-nyc-debt-to-fund-affordable-housing
http://www.memeorandum.com/250617/p58#a250617p58

Nice analysis of housing in Vienna. Back of the envelope calculation suggests rents are about 30% less than in San Francisco. Why aren't we hearing more about this from the "abundance" crowd? We know we won't get there with market driven housing production (I've had more than one developer explain that to me)

"Labour housing plans could destroy 215,000 hectares of nature in England, analysis shows"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Nature

Trump administration prepares to drop seven major housing discrimination cases
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/19/2334089/-Trump-administration-prepares-to-drop-seven-major-housing-discrimination-cases

EliseAI, which provides AI tools for healthcare and housing industries, raised a $250M Series E led by a16z, doubling its valuation to $2.2B from August 2024 (Krystal Hu/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcar

"boxy" or not, I think it's beautiful that the building pictured in this article's lead image will house 40 more low-income households because @… advocated for it to be taller!

Can San Francisco still build beautiful homes?
Local housing experts weigh in.

Nice analysis of housing in Vienna. Back of the envelope calculation suggests rents are about 30% less than in San Francisco. Why aren't we hearing more about this from the "abundance" crowd? We know we won't get there with market driven housing production (I've had more than one developer explain that to me)

I'm not sure whether or not I agree with the conclusions, but sharing this as an interesting read on tradeoffs in #socialHousing, from a knowledgeable person and good writer

Cities Can Have Abundant Housing--if They're Willing To Work for It (Brian Shearer/Washington Monthly)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/14/cities-can-have-abundant-housing-if-theyre-willing-to-work-for-it/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250814/p36#a250814p36

Great reframing by Malcolm Harris at 52:50 here: When a capitalist says they need more profit to invest in something socially beneficial like housing, that profit is a fee they collect from the public, and a blockage that exists *because* there's a capitalist class that controls the money we need. That's really insightful and I'd never thought of it that way.

Stochastic urban planning for housing: Reduce regulations with no provision to provide housing supporting the mix of incomes in California.
After all, in our system, return on capital plays no role in determining what price developers demand for building./s
https://www.s…

Baltimore city council to consider eliminating minimum parking rquirements. https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/transportation/baltimore-parking-mandate-housin…

Baltimore eyes eliminating requirement for developers to build parking
A new bill before the Baltimore City Council would eliminate the requirement to provide a minimum amount of off-street parking for new development.

Stochastic urban planning for housing: Reduce regulations with no provision to provide housing supporting the mix of incomes in California.
After all, in our system, return on capital plays no role in determining what price developers demand for building./s
https://www.s…

“Most people spend 10% of their income on food and for poorer people, it might be 15%.”
“But for everyone it’s still less than they pay on rent,
and how much do we talk about ‘rent poverty’?” he says.
“The reason people are poor is because they’re not paid enough
and because housing is too expensive in this country.
All the research suggests that most people, even people on lower incomes, want to feed their families better
and they are prepared to pay a b…

"Backers argue the measure accomplishes two goals at once, boosting housing growth and encouraging the use of public transit."
If we aren't providing reliable , high frequency bus service that CONNECTS to serve all areas, it will not "encourage" the use of transit. And headways greater than 10- minutes are not a draw; headways of more than 20 minutes are a disincentive. But, with market rate housing (all we'll get without subsidies) it's a gift to TN…

State housing bill could clash with SF upzoning
The proposal preempts local zoning around transit hubs.

"Backers argue the measure accomplishes two goals at once, boosting housing growth and encouraging the use of public transit."
If we aren't providing reliable , high frequency bus service that CONNECTS to serve all areas, it will not "encourage" the use of transit. And headways greater than 10- minutes are not a draw; headways of more than 20 minutes are a disincentive. But, with market rate housing (all we'll get without subsidies) it's a gift to TN…

State housing bill could clash with SF upzoning
The proposal preempts local zoning around transit hubs.

Evil woman.
Tory councils should consider asylum hotel challenges, says Badenoch - BBC News
#AuntTom

Tory councils should consider asylum hotel challenges, says Badenoch
The Tory leader writes to council leaders after a court blocked a hotel from housing asylum seekers.

SFMTA board is hearing Mayor Lurie’s mass displacement plan to banish working-poor, mostly Latino families living in RVs from the city.
Here’s the “refuge permit” designed as window dressing to make liberals feel ok about this. Notice to get one, you have to “agree to accept offer of… interim… housing,” ie agree to be displaced a little later anyway. 💩
#sfpol

The Crime of Treating Housing as a Commodity
https://jacobin.com/2025/06/housing-commodity-nyc-real-estate/

👯‍♂️ Young men in UK more likely than women to live with parents
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/23/men-women-society-uk-housing-parents-women

No one wants to live on Van Ness because it's a loud car sewer. Condo listings with a Van Ness address will tell you in all-caps if the unit doesn't face Van Ness. There's also no green space there. It makes housing on the corridor a passing-through place rather than somewhere to set down roots.

Van Ness Is ‘In Crisis.’ Revival Plans Hinge On Housing Towers and Chain Stores
This main SF thoroughfare once had grand houses and auto palaces. Now there’s a great bus line, but empty storefronts. Can it again be a place to live and linger?

"Strada is seeking to use state housing laws that will both streamline approvals for the development and allow for denser construction — in exchange for the inclusion of affordable units.""
Yes, inclusion of affordable units at a lower rate than San Francisco's existing inclusionary requirements, and well below the level of induced demand per SF Planning's Residential Nexus studies. In other words, it creates even more stress in the affordable housing segment.…

SoMa housing plan ‘encouraging’ to boosters
Proposal would develop long-vacant lot.

The updated budget reiterated Trump’s pursuit of deep reductions for nearly every major federal agency,
reserving its steepest cuts for foreign aid,
medical research,
tax enforcement
and a slew of anti-poverty programs, including rental assistance.
The White House restated its plan to seek a $33 billion cut at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for example,
and another $33 billion reduction at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Trump Officials Unveil Budget Cuts to Aid for Health, Housing and Research
The new blueprint shows that a vast array of education, health, housing and labor programs would be hit, including aid for college and cancer research.

"Strada is seeking to use state housing laws that will both streamline approvals for the development and allow for denser construction — in exchange for the inclusion of affordable units.""
Yes, inclusion of affordable units at a lower rate than San Francisco's existing inclusionary requirements, and well below the level of induced demand per SF Planning's Residential Nexus studies. In other words, it creates even more stress in the affordable housing segment.…

SoMa housing plan ‘encouraging’ to boosters
Proposal would develop long-vacant lot.

Freezing rent is easy. Making NYC housing affordable isn’t.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/07/28/world/freezing-nyc-rent/
🆓

Freezing rent is easy. Making NYC housing affordable isn’t.
Zohran Mamdani’s campaign pledge would be simple to put into effect but wouldn’t do much to solve the underlying problem.

Why does #MayorLurie issue a press release with great fanfare, announcing the has introduced housing legislation, and there is NO link to the legislation on the page:

What I've been saying... YIMBY "wins" in California have failed to actually build housing. The blockage is investment. The solution is public investment, ideally in the form of social housing!
With quotes from @…

SF YIMBYs keep winning, so where's the housing?
Legislators and voters have approved novel ideas to generate funding, but a lack of political will has scuttled them.

Why does #MayorLurie issue a press release with great fanfare, announcing the has introduced housing legislation, and there is NO link to the legislation on the page:

🧶 Can America Get Unstuck?
#politics

Can America Get Unstuck?
We used to be more dynamic, more mobile, and more energetic. It’s not clear if we can be again.

"as dense urban neighborhoods grow more costly, lower- and moderate-income renters, the very people most likely to ride the bus, are pushed out and replaced by a more affluent set who, on the whole, tend to favor getting around by car."
This finding should temper expectations that building lots of market-rate, i.e., expensive, housing will automagically bring about some kind of transit renaissance.

All 5 SF YIMBY endorsed supervisors—Sauter, Engardio, Mahmood, Dorsey, and Melgar—voted to take $34 to $53 million away from building permanent affordable housing, *and* to ban RVs from all city streets.
So much for "legalize housing." With YIMBYs like this, who needs NIMBYs? #sfPol

SF folks: please call your supervisor and ask them not to redirect permanent affordable housing funds to temporary shelter
it’s likely illegal and it’s nonsense: the shelters would free up if people could exit to permanent housing!
https://dsasf.org/ocoh/

San Francisco is About to Defund Solutions to Homelessness
After a late-night session on June 26, the Budget & Appropriations Committee of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is moving forward with a set of proposed resolutions regarding the budget. T…

The argument that the market will solve the housing crisis if only we remove barriers like zoning looks weaker and weaker all the time. Why invest in affordable housing if the same investment can capture high-end prices?
https://www.

The argument that the market will solve the housing crisis if only we remove barriers like zoning looks weaker and weaker all the time. Why invest in affordable housing if the same investment can capture high-end prices?
https://www.

Don't usually weigh in on L.A. stuff but if it's not safe to build 7 duplexes there, then it's not safe to rebuild 5,000 single-family homes there. Make up your mind, Newsom and Bass.
https://laist.com/news/housing-homeles

LA mayor bans duplexes in Palisades burn zone after getting permission from governor
Following uproar from homeowners and local elected leaders, a state law allowing denser housing in single-family areas will no longer apply to the Pacific Palisades.

SF has so many parking lots and other soft sites especially on the westside, we should be building housing there instead of demolishing rent-controlled homes. But #SB79 offers few protections & none for rent-controlled duplexes. Sign this petition to amend the bill to fix this!
#SFPol

Amend SB 79 to Protect Tenants and Communities
SB 79 puts thousands of rent-controlled homes and small businesses in San Francisco at risk by allowing demolition without strong affordability requirements or local oversight. It overrides years of community planning and opens the door to displacement in working-class neighborhoods across San Francisco. Sign the petition to demand smart, equitable amendments that protect tenants, preserve local plans, and ensure transit-oriented development works for everyone.