YIMBY News for 4/22

[Eric Budd]

Data Centers Helped Create Our Energy Affordability Crisis. They Can Also Help Solve It.

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 43.47. affordable, affordable housing, construction, development, homeowner, house, housing, housing crisis, income, rent, supply, transportation, urban

A worker prepares a plot of land for an AI data center at a retired power plant being refurbished to provide electricity for the facility rises in the distance on March 24, 2026, in Independence, Missouri. (Photo by Charlie Riedel / AP) America is in a full-blown energy and affordability crisis, one that is hitting people especially hard at the kitchen table. Foreign wars, inflation, tariffs, and an aggressive effort to fundamentally restructure our democracy and the federal government’s role in our nation’s economy are driving housing, healthcare, food, and transportation costs through the ro

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Denver fight: Does higher pay drive up affordable housing costs?

Denverite

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KEYWORD SCORE: 26.13. affordable, affordable housing, construction, housing, housing cost, housing crisis, income, project, walk

Two of Denver’s anti-poverty measures have clashed in recent years: a push to build affordable housing and a law that is meant to boost pay for workers on city projects. The city has had a law on the books for seven decades requiring Denver contractors to pay “prevailing wages” — an amount matching market pay — for publicly funded projects. But the city’s Department of Housing Stability has not been enforcing the law for construction firms working on city-supported affordable housing projects. Officials with Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration say it isn’t required. Their goal: Making income-

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Snohomish County Has Sound Transit's Regional Rail Spine Top of Mind

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 24.53. affordable, bus rapid transit, construction, downtown, project, rent, transportation, urban

[image: Snohomish County Has Sound Transit's Regional Rail Spine Top of Mind] Last week on a rain-soaked Tuesday, Snohomish County transit advocates gathered at Everett Station to rally for the Everett Link light rail extension project, which they framed as affordable to build and able to proceed on its 2041 grand opening timeline. An axe-wielding lumberjack mural leered over the proceedings in the Weyerhaeuser Room, where Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers and Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin pitched the case for putting "finishing the spine" to Everett and Tacoma before other regional rail

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How Local Leaders Can Turn Tech Growth Into Shared Prosperity

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 20.17. development, growth, house, project, urban

The Douglas County Google Data Center complex is seen on March 6, 2026, in Lithia Springs, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Stewart / AP) Right now, city and state leaders have a unique opportunity. While there’s nothing necessarily new about partnering with local companies for shared prosperity, we’re seeing it at a scale unlike ever before. Technology companies have continued to pop up in places big and small across the country. With the growth of artificial intelligence and the need for additional infrastructure like data centers, this is happening at an unprecedented rate. For local leaders who wan

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Colorado’s downtown leaders talk historic properties, finding a niche and balancing public money with private interests

Colorado Public Radio

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.20. development, downtown, growth, house, housing, project, rent, walk

Downtown officials from across Colorado gathered on Grand Junction’s Main Street this month to celebrate the things that make local economic hubs work, as Downtown Colorado Inc. held its annual awards event to recognize projects across Colorado. A selection of award winners participated in a panel discussion with Colorado Matters Senior Host Ryan Warner about the delicate balance that produces a vibrant downtown. “If your local community is out there using your downtown, that creates a year-round economy rather than a tourist economy,” Downtown Colorado Inc. Executive Director Kat Correll said

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Earth Day in Oregon: Groundhog Day for the Climate Doom Loop

City Observatory

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.64. downtown, house, project, transportation

*Despite legal pledges to reduce greenhouse gases to address climate change, Portland’s transportation greenhouse gas emissions are going up, not down. * *State, regional and city governments have adopted climate goals that purport to commit to steadily reducing greenhouse gases, but we’re not merely failing to make progress, we’re going in the wrong direction. * *In the face of these persistent failures, Oregon is moving forward with plans to billions and billions dollars into three Portland area freeway widening projects. As a result, April 22 isn’t so much Earth Day as a macabre Groundhog D

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