Nolan Gray
Guatemala City, Sacramento
the once and future city planner // chief urban planner METROPOLITAN ABUNDANCE PROJECT // AICP // #BBN // author of hit broadway musical arbitrary lines
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Articles by Nolan Gray
Houses of Horror
Spooky season is here — grocery stores overflow with candy and plastic pumpkins, the veil is only getting thinner, and the empty house in your neighborhood feels a tad more uncanny. The idea of an unused home is even more sinister in San Francisco, a city struggling to survive another tech boom. Rents have increased 26%, and eviction attempts are up 44% in the past year — all the while, almost ten thousand unhoused people sleep outside every night.
Nolan Gray: The YIMBY case for split roll Original
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... On June 9, after seven grueling days of vote counting and $215 million spent on his own campaign, Tom Steyer officially withdrew from the race for governor of California. Whatever your feelings about Mr. Steyer’s campaign, it reminded Californians of one important fact: the Golden State needs to adopt split roll. To the average Californian, the idea that our state needs new taxes and fees may seem absurd.
California needs more housing — especially in the suburbs - Citizens Journal
By We know that California has a housing shortage. Back in 2017, a team of UCLA economists estimated that the state would need to build at least three million new homes to close the gap — a gap that has widened over the past half-decade. Notwithstanding Governor Gavin Newsom’s campaign promise to produce 3.5 million new homes by 2025, permitting data suggests that housing construction in the Golden State has flatlined.
California needs more housing — especially in the suburbs - California Political Review
We know that California has a housing shortage. Back in 2017, a team of UCLA economists estimated that the state would need to build at least three million new homes to close the gap — a gap that has widened over the past half-decade. Notwithstanding Governor Gavin Newsom’s campaign promise to produce 3.5 million new homes by 2025, permitting data suggests that housing construction in the Golden State has flatlined.
California needs more housing — especially in the suburbs Original
We know that California has a housing shortage. Back in 2017, a team of UCLA economists estimated that the state would need to build at least three million new homes to close the gap — a gap that has widened over the past half-decade. Notwithstanding Governor Gavin Newsom’s campaign promise to produce 3.5 million new homes by 2025, permitting data suggests that housing construction in the Golden State has flatlined. We also know that not every part of California is underbuilding at the same rate.
Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix it
Browse Course Chapters 1. Introduction 2. Where Does Zoning Come From? 3. What Zoning Is 4. What Zoning Isn't 5. Planning an Affordability Crisis 6. The Wealth We Lost 7. Apartheid by Another Name 8. Sprawl by Design 9. Toward a Less Bad Zoning: Local Reform 10. Toward a Less Bad Zoning: Statewide Reform 11. Toward a Less Bad Zoning: Federal and International Possibilities 12. The Case for Abolishing Zoning 13. The Great Unzoned City 14. Planning After Zoning 15.
Should California’s coast be affordable too?
If California is going to get back on a path of housing affordability, every part of the Golden State needs to be building its fair share.
Should California’s coast be affordable too?
If California is going to get back on a path of housing affordability, every part of the Golden State needs to be building its fair share.
Should California’s coast be affordable too? Original
Over the past five years, there haven’t been a lot of happy stories in California housing, with rents and home prices hitting historic highs, forcing many hundreds of thousands of families to leave the state. But Senate Bill 35 is an exception: since adoption in 2018, the law has helped to permit at least 18,000 new homes—homes that are overwhelmingly priced at rates affordable to moderate- and low-income Californians.
As the California interior burns, coastal cities continue to block housing Original
Earlier this year, Cal Fire released new fire hazard severity zone maps for the first time since 2007 and the results are bleak: the total acreage of lands projected to face a “very high” fire hazard increased by nearly 15 percent. More than half of rural California is now likely to be at constant risk of conflagrations not unlike the 2018 Camp Fire, which wiped out the town of Paradise. By one measure, 11 million Californians now live in fire-prone areas. That’s a quarter of the state.
Huntington Beach’s NIMBY temper tantrum
California is in the throes of a crippling housing shortage that has driven up the cost of living, exacerbated the homelessness crisis, and forced many hundreds of thousands of families to either leave the state. In response, state policymakers have spent the past few years beefing up housing law to make sure that every municipality allows its fair share.
Chris Elmendorf on the Builder's Remedy on Apple Podcasts
In this episode, California YIMBY research director M. Nolan Gray chats with Chris Elmendorf. He’s the Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at the UC Davis School of Law and an expert on California housing law. In this episode, we take stock of where we’re at in the Regional Housing Needs Assessment process, explain tools like the builder’s remedy, and explore where we go from here. We're joined by Aaron Eckhouse.
Does Discretion Delay Development?
?Mathematical formulae have been encoded as MathML and are displayed in this HTML version using MathJax in order to improve their display. Uncheck the box to turn MathJax off. This feature requires Javascript. Click on a formula to zoom. Abstract Problem, research strategy, and findings Local governments sometimes approve multifamily housing through a discretionary process, meaning a public body must vote to entitle the proposal before it can seek a building permit.
It’s about to get a lot easier to build housing in California Original
In one sense, it has been one of the worst years on record for housing in the Golden State. Over the summer, the median home price in California $800,000 for the first time, a troubling record for the state. Prices are likely to moderate in the near term—not in any real sense, but because higher interest rates will lower what prospective homebuyers can pay. The situation for renters has been equally , with rents surging all across the state. Is it any wonder that the state to shrink?
Zoning is ruining Southern California cities Original
At long last, housing prices in Southern California are coming down. According to recent data, home prices fell by $10,000 between May and June. But with median home prices skyrocketing from $679,000 to $760,000 between June 2021 and 2022, the news likely came as cold comfort for those unable to afford a home.
Zoning is ruining Southern California cities
At long last, housing prices in Southern California are coming down. According to recent data, home prices fell by $10,000 between May and June. But with median home prices skyrocketing from $679,000 to $760,000 between June 2021 and 2022, the news likely came as cold comfort for those unable to afford a home.
Zoning Out Growth
Audio Transcript Brian Anderson: Welcome back to the 10 Blocks podcast. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal. Joining me on the show today is Nolan Gray. Nolan is a professional city planner, an expert in land use regulation, and is obtaining his PhD in urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. He's an affiliated scholar with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He writes frequently about land use issues for City Journal.
[COMMENTARY] Abolish zoning — all of it - Rose Law Group Reporter
See inside the penthouse once owned by late Senator John McCain (PHOENIX) —We all know that Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty has been at the forefront of connecting buyers and sellers for opulent, custom homes.
The Benefits Of Abolishing Zoning—All of It It'll be better for economic growth, housing, and the environment.
Abolish Zoning to Cut Housing Costs and Boost Supply
Zoning It'll be better for economic growth, housing, and the environment. | (Illustration: Lex Villena; Lev Kropotov ) As Americans, we take comfort in the idea that we have the right to plan our own lives. We are unique in our confidence that it is within our power to move to a better life, as so many of our ancestors did.
The Problem With Building a New City From Scratch
From California to Miami and points in between, housing costs in the U.S. are skyrocketing, bringing bidding wars in hot markets and fears of a fresh surge in homelessness as renters scramble for an affordable place to live. The deepening housing crunch — and the intractable resistance that residents often put up when the prospect of new housing emerges nearby — has led some observers to ask: Why don’t we just make new cities?
Arbitrary Lines
Presented by Town Hall Seattle: With exponential growth in the Seattle area, demand and costs for housing are high and availability is low. Affordable housing is difficult for so many to come by, and the region is feeling more than just growing pains; it’s in crisis. In Seattle, most residential areas are zoned for single-family homes, restricting the ability to increase housing density and provide more affordable housing options. Are there new housing solutions that can accommodate everyone?
ADUs in New York City?
In November, New Jersey state senator Troy Singleton introduced Senate Bill 4142, a bill that would nudge municipalities across the Garden State to legalize accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The idea is simple: if a homeowner wants to turn her unused attic, basement, or garage into an extra apartment, antiquated zoning regulations shouldn’t stand in the way.
Maxine Waters' Proposal Won’t Solve Housing Crisis
When you move to a place like California, you get used to joking about absurd housing costs with the folks back home. But this housing horror story recently came from the opposite end of the line. Family members in Lexington, Kentucky, report that a nearby listing immediately prompted a line of eager buyers and ended in a bidding war of cash offers. The home ultimately went for 20 percent above the asking price and 76 percent above the 2020 assessed value.
Forget Down-Payment Subsidy, Expand Housing Supply
Better to help homeowners by expanding supply.
Maxine Waters’s Down-Payment Proposal Won’t Solve Housing Crisis
When you move to a place like California, you get used to joking about absurd housing costs with the folks back home. But this housing horror story recently came from the opposite end of the line. Family members in Lexington, Kentucky, report that a nearby listing immediately prompted a line of eager buyers and ended in a bidding war of cash offers. The home ultimately went for 20 percent above the asking price and 76 percent above the 2020 assessed value.
It shouldn’t be illegal to build housing without parking Original
Should local governments be able to force developers to build parking near transit? It would seem like an absurd question, if it wasn’t the law of the land: Across California, nearly every proposal to build near a bus stop or train station must come with acres of parking lots or towering parking garages. But a new bill winding its way through the California state legislature could soon change all that.
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