Housing: Page 8

  • Housing on a residential street with city skyline in background.
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    Boston grants aim to lower carbon footprint of affordable housing

    Building owners can get up to $10,000 each for comprehensive energy assessments.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Aug. 16, 2023
  • Wood-framed apartment building under construction.
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    Maudib via Getty Images
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    As rents continue to rise, legislators eye new regulations

    Ongoing affordability challenges have led lawmakers to consider rent control and fee notifications, data provider Yardi said in its most recent report.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Aug. 15, 2023
  • A colorful, peaked-roof tiny house with other tiny houses around it, designed to help transition homeless individuals into housing in Eugene, Oregon
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    Diane Bentley Raymond via Getty Images
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    Tiny houses for the homeless: What 2 nonprofits have learned to date

    Nonprofit leaders from Syracuse, New York, and Kansas City, Missouri, discuss the benefits and challenges of using tiny houses to provide shelter for the unhoused.

    By Amanda Loudin • Aug. 15, 2023
  • Busy traffic in Downtown Los Angeles at dusk.
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    Yongyuan via Getty Images
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    Millions in back rent due in Los Angeles

    This collective debt has raised concerns about a potential wave of evictions, despite the city’s efforts to keep residents housed while also supporting landlords.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Aug. 14, 2023
  • Aerial view of a modern houses in a new housing development.
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    Bim via Getty Images
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    How ‘snob zoning’ blocks opportunity

    Exclusionary zoning policies’ problems — and possible solutions – are on the mind of Richard Kahlenberg, author of the new book “Excluded.”

    By Joan Mooney • Aug. 10, 2023
  • A tall building obscured behind a tree.
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    Moeru Matsunoo via Getty Images
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    Office-to-residential, other adaptive reuse construction reaches record high

    Los Angeles has the largest development pipeline in the country, followed by New York City and Chicago.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Aug. 9, 2023
  • The Executive Order harnesses new capital investments to drive decarbonization by retrofitting or constructing fossil-fuel-free buildings.
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    Sean Pavone via Getty Images
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    Boston mayor bans fossil fuels in new city-owned buildings

    The executive order, which also prohibits fossil fuel use in renovations of existing city-owned structures, is part of a larger push for carbon neutrality by 2050.

    By Nish Amarnath • Aug. 8, 2023
  • Volunteer workers raise a wooden framing wall on a Habitat for Humanity home under construction in Washington, DC.
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    Joe Raedle/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    New housing crisis measures announced by Biden administration

    Communities that remove housing production barriers, such as through zoning reform, and encourage commercial-to-residential conversions could qualify for new federal grants.

    By Danielle McLean • Aug. 4, 2023
  • A shift to remote work has softened the demand for office space, accelerating the need for commercial-to-residential conversions.
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    Fang Xia Nuo via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    Commercial-to-residential conversions could accelerate under HUD initiative

    Building industry experts say the Housing and Urban Development Department grant will give much-needed guidance on projects stalled by zoning hurdles and outdated permitting processes.

    By Nish Amarnath • Aug. 4, 2023
  • A row of green bicycles on a rack next to a sidewalk.
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    Diy13 via Getty Images
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    Q&A

    How to safely store e-bikes, e-scooters in apartments

    The uptick in micromobility battery fires shows electrification is "moving faster than we’re able to necessarily adapt to," a fire protection expert at an engineering consulting firm said.

    By Mary Salmonsen • Aug. 3, 2023
  • Homeless young man sitting on sidewalk and begging alone. He is wearing protective face mask.
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    urbazon via Getty Images
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    Emergency financial assistance reduces risk of homelessness

    Households were 81% less likely to become homeless within six months when they received money through one California county’s program, a new study finds. 

    By Danielle McLean • July 31, 2023
  • An exterior shot of an Indeed office building.
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    Screenshot: Google Maps

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    Regulations, building layouts impede office conversion projects

    Even as Congress faces pressure to overhaul outdated permitting processes, builders, architects and property owners cite complex zoning laws as barriers to converting existing office space to residential and other uses.

    By Nish Amarnath • July 24, 2023
  • Downtown Los Angeles California skyline cityscape skyscrapers
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    dszc via Getty Images
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    California clears path for safe conversion of underused commercial buildings

    The California Building Standards Commission’s vote to amend existing building code allows multiple compliance paths for adaptive reuse.

    By Nish Amarnath • July 24, 2023
  • A low-angle look towards the Charlotte, NC, skyline
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    Darwin Brandis via Getty Images
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    Cost concerns spur North Carolina’s move to delay vote on building code update

    The state’s Building Code Council has shelved a vote on a proposed overhaul of building energy efficiency rules as it waits for reports detailing the costs and benefits of implementing the changes. 

    By Nish Amarnath • July 24, 2023
  • Aerial shot of urban downtown
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    Art Wager via Getty Images
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    Seattle downtown revitalization plan reimagines area post-pandemic

    The plan aims to make downtown safer and more welcoming, but critics say it comes at a cost for people living on the streets.

    By Joan Mooney • July 24, 2023
  • The dome of U.S. Capitol is seen framed by trees.
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    Dan Zukowski/Smart Cities Dive
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    House bill would slash funds for transit, Amtrak, equity programs

    The proposed fiscal 2024 federal transportation budget would cut two major grant programs and impose restrictions on how certain funds could be used.

    By • July 19, 2023
  • A for sale sign on a home
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    Mikey_Man via Getty Images
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    Rising insurance costs could force apartment sales, threaten new development

    When insurance increases kill affordable deals, they knock much-needed moderately priced housing out of the market.

    By Leslie Shaver • July 19, 2023
  • Downtown Los Angeles California skyline cityscape skyscrapers
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    dszc via Getty Images
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    Residential conversions continue to rise as office values decline

    Work-from-home trends and market conditions have made conversion projects more feasible.

    By Mary Salmonsen • July 18, 2023
  • A moving truck stands with its back open on a street next to brick buildings.
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    Liudmila Chernetska via Getty Images
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    The top 10 states residents want to move into (and out of)

    Florida stands out for its high amount of churn, as both the No. 2 state Americans want to move to and the top state current residents want to leave.

    By Mary Salmonsen • July 17, 2023
  • A low angle view of a street lined with parked cars with buildings in the background and autumn leaves on the street.
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    Bilanol via Getty Images
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    Demand for parking may have dire climate, housing consequences, author says

    “The more parking you provide, the more likely people will be to own a car,” said author Henry Grabar on a webinar. 

    By • July 12, 2023
  • A picture shows a contemporary apartment building in San Francisco.
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    Courtesy of Suffolk Construction
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    US housing ‘crisis state’ calls for more affordable housing, zoning reform, state-local collaboration, panel says

    State efforts to spur housing development were lauded at the panel discussion, which was tied to the release of the annual state of U.S. housing report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

    By Gaby Galvin • June 29, 2023
  • In an aerial view, cars drive by the San Francisco skyline as they cross the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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    San Francisco invites proposals to convert downtown office spaces into housing, other new uses

    The city’s initiative to repurpose underused downtown commercial space solidifies legislation passed last week to simplify commercial building conversion processes.

    By Nish Amarnath • June 29, 2023
  • Modern residential buildings with trees and grass in the foreground.
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    sl-f via Getty Images
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    To improve multifamily housing energy efficiency and resiliency, HUD offers $4.8B for retrofits

    The first round of the $4.8 billion GRRP covers upgrades for 28 rent-assisted properties.

    By Mary Salmonsen • June 22, 2023
  • Seattle Washington aerial view from Queen Anne neighborhood toward Space Needle and downtown
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    SEASTOCK/iStock via Getty Images
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    Which zoning changes best alleviate the housing crisis? Seattle-area cities have a new way to find out.

    An interactive online tool from the Urban Institute estimates the impact on housing development of four different zoning changes around transit construction in the Puget Sound area.

    By Kalena Thomhave • June 22, 2023
  • Houses and parked cars along a street lit with an orange glow. An open, brightly-lit garage at center. Trees, smoke and a line of wildfire on hills in the background.
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    David McNew via Getty Images
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    When wildfires hit, homes built under fire-resistant codes are surviving. Communities are noticing.

    Building code changes resulted in more saved homes in the 2018 Camp Fire in California. With more frequent, intense wildfires likely, Western communities are taking a look but hearing concerns about costs and property rights.

    By Amanda Loudin • June 16, 2023