YIMBY News for 7/9

[Eric Budd]

Keep Public Housing Public': San Antonio Dispute Reflects National Tensions

Governing

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KEYWORD SCORE: 43.23. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, density, development, gentrification, house, housing, housing authority, income, lower-density, project, real estate, rent, renter, urban

In Brief: Opportunity Home, the San Antonio public housing authority, fired its president and CEO last month, upsetting tenants and housing advocates. Board members cited uncollected rent and a growing budget deficit. Differences in approach in San Antonio reflect a broader debate nationwide about the purpose and limitations of public housing. Even with low-cost housing harder than ever to find in most American cities, the stock of public housing is shrinking. The number of families living in public housing shrank 6.5 percent during a recent five-year period, according to the Urban Institute —

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How does Mayor Mike Johnston plan to make Denver housing more affordable? Convincing voters to raise sales tax again

Denverite

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KEYWORD SCORE: 37.50. affordable, affordable housing, development, growth, house, housing, income, project, rent

Mayor Mike Johnston is pushing a plan to create 44,000 units of affordable housing over the next 10 years through a new sales tax. “Denver can’t afford to wait,” he said. He’s calling his proposal the Affordable Denver Fund, and he says passing it and creating housing is urgent if Denver is going to remain a desirable place to live. “The old rules say you can’t both drive economic growth in the city and maintain affordability,” Johnston said. “We refuse to believe that. We believe Denver can be the fastest-growing economic engine in the West. And it can be the place where you can still afford

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Denver mayor unveils new sales tax proposal to pay for more affordable housing

Denver Post Politics

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KEYWORD SCORE: 33.83. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, construction, development, house, housing, housing authority, housing crisis, income, market-rate, project, rent

Denver city leaders plan to ask voters in November to increase sales taxes to raise roughly $100 million a year for affordable housing projects, helping Mayor Mike Johnston meet his housing development goals. Johnston unveiled the proposed new tax — which would add 0.5% atop the Denver’s current effective 8.81% sales tax rate — during a news conference Monday morning on the steps of the City and County Building. The Denver Post reported in early June that his administration was considering a new tax to fuel the city’s affordable housing efforts amid surges in home prices and rents that have ma

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The Federal Funding To Make Clean Energy Equitable Is Here. It’s Up To Cities To Do the Right Thing.

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 32.89. affordable, affordable housing, development, homeowner, house, housing, income, project, rent, renter, urban

(Photo by Los Muertos Crew / Pexels) A clean-energy revolution is upon us, as cost-saving solar power and other green technologies become more widely available. But not everyone can take advantage of these upgrades. Low- and moderate-income families may not be able to afford the upfront cost of solar panels or energy efficiency improvements that would save them money in the long run. The good news is that the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law are directing billions of dollars to climate efforts in cities and states, with much of the funding intend

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Many More Homeless Sweeps Are Coming

Darrell Owens Substack

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KEYWORD SCORE: 27.69. construction, house, housing, housing cost, hud, income, rent, urban

The Supreme Court has ruled that cities are not required to offer shelter before sweeping encampments, ending a major legal barrier to cities dismantling homeless encampments. It’s a loss in a new strategy among homeless activists to depend on the court system rather than legislators for protection. Previously, the Ninth Circuit ruled (*Martin v. Boise)* that no sweeps could be conducted without available shelters offered to residents before dismantling an encampment. I thought the ruling would create political will to construct shelters, but predictably, California’s political establishment j

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Advocates Push to Close Half-Mile Gap in Interurban Trail

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 21.44. bike lane, bike path, construction, project, segregate, transportation, urban, walk

Built on the former right-of-way of the long-vanished Interurban rail line between Seattle and Everett, the Interurban Trail is a beloved fixture for both recreation and transportation trips in north King County and southern Snohomish County. With Link light rail on the cusp of reaching Snohomish County, the Interurban is about to become even more important for accessing stations, but there’s a big catch: a major gap in the trail exists due to a state highway straddling the county line between Shoreline and Edmonds. A group of advocates is trying to finally bridge that gap. The half-mile gap i

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How To Use Pilot Projects To Increase Collaboration and Get Things Done

Strong Towns

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.09. bike lane, development, growth, project, rent, transportation, walk

*(NuSarnia members working on a pilot project. Source: **nuSarnia**.)* *Almost every time a city or an engineer completes a project, there are complaints.* It’s easy to point out infrastructure choices that seem nonsensical once you’ve learned about the conditions that make places unsafe or uninviting for people — but it’s a lot harder to actually work with your local engineer to change those conditions. The “doers” of nuSarnia, an advocacy group in Sarnia, Ontario, have adopted an uncommon approach to advocating for improvements in their city: Instead of reacting in anger to things they don’t

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