Every one percentage point increase in Black population growth above expectations was associated with a one p.p. *decrease* in land zoned for multifamily housing — a huge effect in a nation where only about 13% of residentially zoned land allows for multifamily today lewis.ucla.edu/2026/08/19/1...

Episode 121: Exclusionary Zoning and the Great Migration with Alexander Sahn - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

Why is exclusionary zoning so commonplace in the US? Alexander Sahn shares evidence that the migration of Southern Blacks played a big role.

lewis.ucla.edu

My wife and I are gonna be in Philadelphia Oct 2-5, just for fun. Neither of us have ever been. Where should we stay?

Racial segregation wasn't an accidental or purely historical side effect of modern zoning—it was core to the story, and the resulting codes are still in effect in most US cities. www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

The racial origins of zoning: Southern cities from 1910–40

This article argues that the desire to regulate black residential patterns constituted a major objective of the early zoning and planning movement in the United States, particularly in the South be...

tandfonline.com

Shane Phillips@shanedphillips.bsky.social · 3d ago

Every one percentage point increase in Black population growth above expectations was associated with a one p.p. *decrease* in land zoned for multifamily housing — a huge effect in a nation where only about 13% of residentially zoned land allows for multifamily today lewis.ucla.edu/2026/08/19/1...

This week we talk with Alexander Sahn of UNC Chapel Hill about the connection between the movement of Southern Blacks during the Great Migration and the rise of exclusionary zoning in the cities where they ended up. The association is *very* strong. lewis.ucla.edu/2026/08/19/1...

Episode 121: Exclusionary Zoning and the Great Migration with Alexander Sahn - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

Why is exclusionary zoning so commonplace in the US? Alexander Sahn shares evidence that the migration of Southern Blacks played a big role.

lewis.ucla.edu

I'm reading this great article by @scp-hughes.bsky.social and something occurred to me: Could increasing life expectancy throughout the 1900s have contributed to the rise of NIMBYism, or of historical preservation in particular? worksinprogress.co/issue/beauty...

Beauty In My Backyard - Works in Progress Magazine

Ugly architecture stops homes getting built – but not in the way you think.

worksinprogress.co

Anyone know what's going on with LIHTC development in Colorado? This report got a lot of attention for high costs in CA and high LIHTC costs relative to market-rate in CA and TX, but I don't recall anyone talking about how CO is building LIHTC cheaper than market-rate. www.rand.org/pubs/researc...

14 hours later and my mentions are still full of angry treatises about badly behaved cyclists. Bike lanes are not a reward for good cyclist behavior! They are infrastructure proven to make cities safer for ALL ROAD USERS. Whatever way cyclists have wronged you is irrelevant to the discussion!

Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 6d ago

Every conversation about bike lanes is like: "Car crashes kill a huge number of people every day, including pedestrians, cyclists, & car occupants. Good bike infrastructure has been shown to make everyone safer (& doesn't increase congestion)." "But sometimes cyclists break rules & hit people!"

The death estimate is very uncertain but the lower bound is over 8 million and the upper bound is over 19 million. All while US spending has increased overall. Just a monstrous policy choice by monstrous people.

e.w. niedermeyer@niedermeyer.online · last wk.

14 million souls ended in a single year by Elon Musk's cruelty and stupidity Here are some of the comparisons: Rwandan genocide: 800k dead Cambodian genocide: 3 million dead The Holocaust: 7 million dead

This week's Housing Voice reading list covers research on embodied emissions in new housing, the impacts Garden City neighborhood design, high unemployment insurance taxes for construction firms, and the young adult home ownership rate. uclahousingvoice.substack.com/p/ucla-housi...

UCLA Housing Voice Reading List (8/12/2026)

Embodied GHG emissions in new buildings, the social and environmental costs of 'Garden City' design, taxing construction workers, overstating the young adult homeownership rate, and more.

uclahousingvoice.substack.com

I'm not saying cities should do this or that it would even be a good idea, but theoretically, could a US city ban internal combustion engine vehicles from operating on its streets? Just the local streets, not state-owned or interstate, and ignoring that it would probably be preempted if attempted.

I look at this map of bike paths and lanes in LA County and I want to say something like "thanks, fragmented governance among 88 different cities," but a huge share of this is the city of LA and it doesn't look any better. If your trip is more than a few blocks then you're probably dodging cars.

I was so honored that the host of my favorite housing podcast wanted to excerpt a couple episodes of my own lil show!

Shane Phillips@shanedphillips.bsky.social · 2w ago

If you haven't been listening to the great YIMBY Country podcast created by @andersem.bsky.social, here's your nudge: in lieu of our usual interviews, we're featuring a few clips from YIMBY Country on our feed lewis.ucla.edu/2026/08/05/y...

If you haven't been listening to the great YIMBY Country podcast created by @andersem.bsky.social, here's your nudge: in lieu of our usual interviews, we're featuring a few clips from YIMBY Country on our feed lewis.ucla.edu/2026/08/05/y...

YIMBY Country with Michael Andersen - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

This episode features clips from Michael Andersen's one-shot podcast series, YIMBY Country: "A podcast mini-series about what happens after you legalize housing. In this case, in New Zealand."

lewis.ucla.edu

I'm playing around looking at median family income data and noticed that Washington DC has a way higher median than other large metros (chart 1) but a pretty run-of-the-mill 80% MFI (chart 2). Also, note how 80% MFI increased a lot faster than MFI in LA and NYC (chart 3 + 1). What's the deal?

LOL

William Skudlarek@willskud.bsky.social · 3w ago

Washington Building Official Association (WABO): We want to require that when elevators are installed in any multifamily housing (vs. current req. of 4+ story buildings), at least 1 must fit a stretcher. WA State Building Code council: Can you quantify the costs and benefits of this change? WABO:

In this week's UCLA Housing Voice podcast reading list, we talk about research into conditions most likely to lead to redevelopment, infrastructure costs for urban vs. suburban housing, early impacts of a major Los Angeles zoning reform, and more. uclahousingvoice.substack.com/p/ucla-housi...

UCLA Housing Voice Reading List (7/29/26)

Investigating which conditions are most likely to lead to redevelopment, comparing infrastructure costs for urban vs. suburban housing, checking in on a major Los Angeles zoning reform, and more.

uclahousingvoice.substack.com

Unintentionally well-targeted spam

In this week's UCLA Housing Voice podcast reading list, we talk about research into conditions most likely to lead to redevelopment, infrastructure costs for urban vs. suburban housing, early impacts of a major Los Angeles zoning reform, and more. uclahousingvoice.substack.com/p/ucla-housi...

UCLA Housing Voice Reading List (7/29/26)

Investigating which conditions are most likely to lead to redevelopment, comparing infrastructure costs for urban vs. suburban housing, checking in on a major Los Angeles zoning reform, and more.

uclahousingvoice.substack.com

generally when you're in a war with a foreign nation, you want to at least pretend to do the "we're here to liberate the people of iran from their tyrannical dictators" thing and not the "we're here to steal all their natural resources and loot them" thing

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 4w ago

Trump to press on Airforce One: “We are taking billions and billions of dollars from Venezuela. “That will happen with Iran too.”

I was intrigued enough by this measure to do some further analysis, including looking at national data going back to 1940 and at a bunch of metro areas since 2005. I wrote about it here: domainexpansion.substack.com/p/an-easy-an...

An Easy and Useful Way to Measure Housing Supply Shortages

How many homes are there per single adult and adult couple? The ratio has been declining nationally since 1980, suggesting that Americans aren't forming new households like they could in the past.

domainexpansion.substack.com

Ryan Moulton@moultano.bsky.social · 4w ago

I'm actually astonished at how clean this graph looks as a diagnostic for our housing ills. Note how close it is to 1 at the start. Houses per single adult or married couple.

This is how the SHUT UP Act would work here:

Fietser@americanfietser.bsky.social · 4w ago

A motorist in Amsterdam was pulled over for being a public noise nuisance with his car. Noise measurement tests were done and the car was found to be in violation. The driver had to continue his journey on foot and the car is not allowed on public infrastructure until the exhaust is properly muffled

Ontario, what is going on with these very straight long roads? Across the border in Michigan and New York at the same scale for comparison. Is it topographical (fewer mountains and hills requiring indirect routing)?

This is a genuinely shocking contrast. www.latimes.com/california/s...

Street homelessness went up in Los Angeles. In Nithya Raman's district, it was nearly cut in half

Street homelessness — people living outdoors or in their vehicles — went down by 49% in Raman’s district compared to the previous year, she said at a press conference Friday.

latimes.com

Before (2019) / After (2026) Rue Ternaux in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. One line of car parking spots was removed and trees were planted in 2024.

I'm actually astonished at how clean this graph looks as a diagnostic for our housing ills. Note how close it is to 1 at the start. Houses per single adult or married couple.

This week on the UCLA Housing Voice podcast, Matthew Mleczko shares his research on how exclusionary zoning in more affluent communities increases material hardship for residents of impoverished neighborhoods nearby. lewis.ucla.edu/2026/07/22/1...

Episode 120: How Exclusionary Zoning Hurts Poor Neighborhoods with Matthew Mleczko

When cities adopt exclusionary zoning, their housing stock becomes scarcer and less affordable over time. Matt Mleczko shares research suggesting that the impacts extend beyond exclusionary jurisdicti...

lewis.ucla.edu

This is amazing www.instagram.com/reel/DYpuVNO...

Nithya Raman on Instagram: "POV: It’s the future and your crush wants to take public transit with you. Turns out, a city with reliable transit and city services is Nithya Raman’s love language. #nith...

16K likes, 295 comments - nithyaforthecity on May 22, 2026: "POV: It’s the future and your crush wants to take public transit with you. Turns out, a city with reliable transit and city services is Nit...

instagram.com

This week on the UCLA Housing Voice podcast, Matthew Mleczko shares his research on how exclusionary zoning in more affluent communities increases material hardship for residents of impoverished neighborhoods nearby. lewis.ucla.edu/2026/07/22/1...

Episode 120: How Exclusionary Zoning Hurts Poor Neighborhoods with Matthew Mleczko

When cities adopt exclusionary zoning, their housing stock becomes scarcer and less affordable over time. Matt Mleczko shares research suggesting that the impacts extend beyond exclusionary jurisdicti...

lewis.ucla.edu

Needs more articulation IMO