So much good stuff in this Globe editorial. Thanks to the Ed board for endorsing this common sense strategy to address our extreme housing shortage.

bostonglobe.com/2024/05/01/opi…

Real estate transfer taxes can wreak havoc on the ability to build new, multi-family housing.

If we're going to consider them, we need to carefully tailor them to avoid these issues.

Better yet, we should rely on clear transparent taxes on property and income.

Really interesting new work by Robert French & Valentine Gilbert, and an excellent point - but also a limited one, that doesn't really prove what the blog & tweet versions claim
🧵
h/t Zak Yudhishthu

Really excited to see this great initiative finally taking off. Columbia Road deserves to become the Dorchesterway. It's time to make this happen.

.Josh Barro: 'I cannot believe this emotionally incontinent young person and his friends are driving a national news cycle'
joshbarro.com/p/stop-letting…

The fruits of NIMBYism and terrible city land use policies. A dense area next to transit is going to get more gas station pumps instead of housing.

Boston’s Forever War On Fun

'Loosen up. Let the people dance! Let them slurp spaghetti outside..! Keep public transportation open late enough to get the party people home.'
- Carine Hajjar
bostonglobe.com/2024/04/29/opi…

Which one is a boomtown, Austin TX or Providence RI?

Boston would rather sit here and watch our housing crisis get progressively worse than have shadows from tall buildings on parks on December 22nd...

Pro-growth policies can't prevent a surge in prices or rents when demand takes off. But YIMBYism is the difference between a few years of paying nosebleed prices and a lifetime of it.

In Boston, we're talking about rent stabilization schemes designed to allow rents to INCREASE by ~10% every year! Why is it so hard for us to talk about doing things that are proven to DECREASE housing costs? Reform zoning to allow more homes of all types, at all income levels.

The main thing I learned from this article was how much more interesting and diverse Beacon Hill was in terms of people and uses back when you could build and modify structures there.

This, too, is the lesson of the 11-story BH tower on the commom.

'Neighbors' --- note there's one apartment building nearby followed by Harvard labs and empty brownfield.

Stop excusing this NIMBY claptrap.

The fascinating thing about cities is that while they can have problems if left to grow organically, the unintended consequences of maiming random parts that lawmakers might dislike at such a proximal scale can be devastating.

The thing is, IZ suppresses ALL kinds of housing development, not just small-scale.

This UCLA study estimates that 11% IZ cuts market-rate production by 36%.

And just a 0.6% increase in average rents would negate the benefit of the subsidized units.

ternercenter.berkeley.edu/research-and-p…

Chag Pesach Sameach, everyone.

Another reminder that housing is not immune to supply and demand. We shouldn't need more reminders, but here we are.

Many such cases where the demand for 'pure' affordability shrinks the number of total affordable homes and damages the housing market further by crimping supply and taking far longer to come online.

AHMA is heading to the State House on May 29th for our first ever lobby day! We'll have:

-AHMA swag 👕
-Exciting guest speakers 🗣️
-Free lunch 🥪
-And the opportunity to take the pro-housing message directly to your legislators! 📢

Join us! abundanthousingma.org/2024-ahma-lobb…

“It’s a generational investment,....It will hopefully be up for 50 to 75 years. It’s worth another couple of years to get it right.”

Just for a pedestrian bridge!

This is why US infrastructure is expensive + takes forever. Endless study and consultants

bostonglobe.com/2024/04/14/met…