Housing: Page 3


  • A vehicle parked on the curb in front of grass.
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    efrederiksen via Getty Images
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    As Los Angeles struggles with RV encampments, a new California law aims to help

    The law allows the city to lease state transportation department property for $1 a month to securely store recreational vehicles formerly inhabited by people experiencing homelessness.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 1, 2024
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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    HUD extreme heat playbook focuses on increasing resilience in housing

    The guidance identifies potential federal funding sources and example projects that it says could work elsewhere across the country.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Sept. 27, 2024
  • A row of homes with a red sign in the foreground that reads "FOR RENT."
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    Feverpitched via Getty Images
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    Research points to the downsides of rent control

    A review of over 100 studies shows the various negative impacts of policies that regulate rent, including that they can drive up prices in uncontrolled units nearby.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Sept. 23, 2024
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    Retrieved from Governor Gavin Newsom.
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    California sues city for banning new homeless shelters

    Norwalk, California’s ban on shelters and other housing violates several state laws, according to California, which first threatened legal action against the city in September.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Updated Nov. 7, 2024
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    Google Maps

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    Apartment complex owners sue New Jersey town over new fees

    Among other requirements, landlords in Edison must pay $100 per unit per year under a new housing ordinance.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Sept. 16, 2024
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    Tunatura via Getty Images
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    Minnesota bans pot smoking, vaping in multifamily properties

    The move is a first of its kind among states, although 85 California municipalities have banned smoking in multifamily units, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Sept. 13, 2024
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    evrim ertik via Getty Images
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    Low-income families face high energy burden, prompting calls for more government action

    One in four low-income U.S. households spends more than 15% of their income on energy bills, finds an analysis by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Sept. 13, 2024
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    Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    Q&A

    Cincinnati mayor says zoning overhaul reflects ‘generational change’ in how people think of cities

    Years of community engagement revealed Cincinnatians don’t support getting rid of single-family zoning altogether — but they were open to relaxing it in some areas, Mayor Aftab Pureval said.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Sept. 11, 2024
  • Buildings against a blue sky.
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    James Andrews via Getty Images
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    3 commercial-to-residential conversions receive city government support in Washington, D.C.

    Five businesses are also getting grants to open or expand into downtown spaces that have been vacant for at least six months, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Sept. 10, 2024
  • Apartment building under construction surrounded by high rises.
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    Joe Raedle via Getty Images
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    Multifamily permitting drops in urban areas

    Higher interest rates and supply chain concerns have taken a toll on new apartment construction, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Sept. 9, 2024
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    Nykieria Chaney/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    Atlanta’s homelessness response could get a $60M infusion

    A bond and the city’s affordable housing trust fund would unleash millions of dollars under a proposal by Atlanta’s mayor and city council. Up to 700 affordable housing units could be built with the funds.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Sept. 6, 2024
  • Officers wearing shirts that read "police" handcuff a person.
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    wademcmillan via Getty Images
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    Homelessness response team heads to streets in Birmingham, Alabama

    As it does in some California and Texas cities, the organization Urban Alchemy will respond to certain nonemergency calls in Birmingham instead of the police.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Sept. 5, 2024
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    Associative Memory Photography via Getty Images
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    ‘Housing production strategy’ passes in Portland, Oregon

    In its first such plan, the city outlined dozens of ways to meet housing needs in coming years as rents and home prices outpace income.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Sept. 3, 2024
  • A person in a suit speaks in front of a seal for the state of California.
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    Justin Sullivan/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    California tackles housing shortage, homelessness with 2 new laws

    “The homelessness crisis demands immediate and innovative action, not the status quo,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has recently cracked down on encampments of people experiencing homelessness. 

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Aug. 30, 2024
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    John Moore via Getty Images
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    Cities assert tenants’ right to cooling in a warming world

    Grappling with fatal heat waves, local governments are passing laws that make landlords provide working air conditioning. Financial and other challenges remain, however.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Aug. 27, 2024
  • DOJ lawsuit against RealPage
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    Anna Moneymaker / Staff via Getty Images
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    DOJ sues software firm RealPage over algorithm that allegedly drives up rents

    The attorneys general of several states joined the suit, which accuses the company of an “unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords.”

    By Leslie Shaver • Aug. 26, 2024
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    Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images
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    Q&A

    Will New York City make landlords provide air conditioning? Its climate chief is optimistic.

    Coordinating any such mandate with the city's building decarbonization law requirements could reduce the burden it might create for building owners, Rohit Aggarwala explained.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Aug. 26, 2024
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    4nadia via Getty Images
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    Colorado sees a wave of landlord-tenant rules

    Local governments recently gained a right of first refusal on affordable housing sales, as well as a first offer on market-rate housing. Other new laws focus on for-cause evictions and rent stabilization after natural disasters.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Aug. 23, 2024
  • Rendering of modern train station with people on a plaza. Sign reads "Parkchester/Van Nest."
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    Retrieved from New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority on August 23, 2024
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    NYC rezoning allows transit-oriented development around four new train stations in the Bronx

    The New York City Council plan includes 7,000 new housing units around the stations in the East Bronx, currently considered a transit desert.

    By Aug. 23, 2024
  • Window AC units in a large building from the outside.
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    Johan_Spinnell via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    An air conditioning law, the first in its region, changed tenants’ rights in this Maryland county

    Montgomery County began requiring landlords to provide AC in 2020 amid climate concerns and renter complaints. Despite a shaky start, officials say things are going smoothly now.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Aug. 22, 2024
  • Three people speak with each other in front of a large multifamily building.
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    Kent J. Edwards/Reuters

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    Deep Dive

    Should tenants have a right to cooling? More cities say yes amid record heat.

    As rental cooling standards pop up around the country, experts warn that they aren’t a perfect solution to the rising danger of scorching temperatures.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Aug. 20, 2024
  • Aerial shot of skyscrapers and city buildings surrounded by water
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    Eloi_Omella via Getty Images
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    The cities expecting the most newly constructed apartments this year

    Although apartment construction is expected to break records in 2024, the U.S. is still behind on the number of new units some say are needed by 2035 to mitigate affordability issues.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Aug. 19, 2024
  • California state flag and state capitol building in Sacramento
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    DustyPixel via Getty Images
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    23 mayors oppose California’s rent control ballot measure

    Proposition 33 would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, allowing local governments to set rent control without restrictions.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Aug. 16, 2024
  • Aerial View of San Francisco Skyline at Sunrise, California, USA
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    heyengel via Getty Images
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    San Francisco passes ban on revenue management software in rental housing

    The ordinance, which has not yet been enacted, asserts that the software allows residential landlords to indirectly coordinate with one another, raising rents, lowering occupancy rates and increasing evictions.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Aug. 14, 2024
  • Construction workers help build a mixed-use apartment complex which will hold over 700 units of apartment housing and 95,000 square feet of commercial space on January 25, 2024 in Los Angeles
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    Mario Tama/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    HUD’s latest affordable housing push is $100M for communities

    State and local governments can apply for grants to address high development costs, outdated land-use policies, climate change risks and other barriers, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Aug. 14, 2024