YIMBY News for 10/23

[Eric Budd]

It’s hard to build housing in Littleton. When the council tried to make it easier, residents revolted.

Colorado Sun

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KEYWORD SCORE: 67.66. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, comprehensive plan, condo, construction, cost of housing, density, development, downtown, growth, homeowner, house, housing, housing authority, housing stock, income, mixed-use, nimby, parking, parking garage, planning commission, project, public hearing, rent, single-family, zone, zoning

In December 2019, a proposed community of 85 relatively affordable homes was on the cusp of approval in the south Denver suburbs. Two months earlier, the Littleton City Council had voted unanimously to adopt Envision Littleton, a long-term plan that called for more apartments and starter homes. Without more housing options, planners concluded, the city was becoming unaffordable for working class families. So when a developer wanted to build narrow single-family homes on small lots, priced at around $450,000, the city planning staff recommended the project as a good use of an old industrial lot

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Bellevue Council Contenders Spar Over Housing

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 65.94. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, comprehensive plan, development, growth, homeowner, house, housing, housing crisis, income, mixed-use, nimby, parking, parking lot, planning commission, project, rent, single-family, supply, transit center, transit-oriented, transportation, urban, walk, zone, zoning

On October 13, the 10 candidates running for seats in the Bellevue City Council discussed how they would tackle the city’s housing and affordability issues in a forum hosted by the Eastside Housing Equity Coalition. It will be no easy feat for whoever wins. With the median home sale price sitting at just under $1.5 million, Bellevue is one of the least affordable places to live in the state, outstripping Seattle by a wide margin. Up for election in Bellevue are: - Position 1: Paul Clark and (appointed) incumbent Vishal Bhargava; - Position 2: Naren Briar and incumbent Conrad Lee; - Position 4:

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The Never-Ending War Over Rent Control

Governing

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KEYWORD SCORE: 43.06. affordable, apartment, condo, construction, development, gentrification, house, housing, income, real estate, rent, rent control, rent-control, renter, supply, urban

At this moment in New York City, nearly a million apartments are rent-stabilized, more than 40 percent of all rental units in the city. Their rent can go up by only a fixed amount every year, lately about 3 percent. Another 22,000 apartments are under more stringent rent control — their monthly payment doesn’t increase at all without explicit approval from a city authority. Things will change dramatically if Zohran Mamdani gets his way. If the democratic socialist wins the mayoralty next month, as he is expected to do, he says he will push for a four-year freeze on rents of stabilized tenants

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The buzzy word that Democrats have pinned their hopes on

Vox - Politics

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KEYWORD SCORE: 36.06. affordable, homeowner, housing, housing cost, income, nimby, project, rent, supply, yimby, zoning

[image: Boys holding campaign signs for Zohran Mamdani.] Boys holding campaign signs for Zohran Mamdani on October 19, 2025, in New York City. | Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images The buzziest political word of the year is “affordability” — it’s the mantra that carried the insurgent progressive candidate Zohran Mamdani to victory in New York City’s mayoral primary, and that Democrats across the country have since raced to claim as their own. “Affordability is the central issue, the central reason to be a Democrat,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren declared in August. California Gov. Gavin Ne

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Kentucky’s Anti-Camping Law Has Pushed Rural Homelessness into Hiding

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 33.84. affordable, development, house, housing, income, project, rent, renter, urban

[image: Backyard] Two abandoned shelters built with railroad ties, plastic and tarps, seen in 2011 at a wooded portion of Paducah, Kentucky, known as Tent City. (Photo by Stephen Lance Dennee / AP) *This story was produced as part of Next City’s joint **Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship for Rural-Urban Issues** with **Kentucky’s **CivicLex* *.* In many U.S. cities, advocates for America’s growing homeless population say, homelessness itself is being treated like a crime. Last year, the Supreme Court gave cities the green light to ban people from sleeping and camping in public, allowing the

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Ascent at Hover Crossing ahead of schedule, on track for December completion

Daily Camera Boulder News

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KEYWORD SCORE: 32.14. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, construction, development, growth, house, housing, housing authority, income, market-rate, project, transportation, walk

The Ascent at Hover Crossing affordable housing project is now expected to be completed in December 2025 — two months earlier than originally planned. The Longmont Housing Authority Board of Commissioners received a virtual construction tour of the project on Tuesday evening. Molly O’Donnell, the city’s housing and community investment director, said leasing and a grand opening celebration are anticipated shortly after construction concludes. The 75-unit development, located at 2225 18th Ave., broke ground in November 2024 and is being built on a 2.4-acre site near public transportation, groce

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SDOT Plans ‘Tactical Urbanism’ on Occidental Avenue Ahead of World Cup

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 30.42. development, downtown, housing, parking, preservation, project, public space, rent, transportation, urban, walk

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is advancing plans for quick-build public realm improvements along Occidental Avenue S, an underutilized and overbuilt street at the front door of South Downtown’s two sports stadiums. The Occidental Promenade is the first major project to move forward under the newly created People Streets and Public Spaces program, funded via the 2024 Seattle Transportation Levy. Set to be implemented before the 2026 FIFA World Cup takes over Lumen Field next June, the near-term changes could also inform and influence permanent changes to the street — long a go

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Lin: Why I’m Proud to Earn the Working Families Party’s Endorsement

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 27.33. affordable, affordable housing, housing, housing crisis, income, rent, urban

For the past six years, I’ve helped the Seattle Office of Housing fund thousands of affordable homes in my role as an Assistant City Attorney. At the same time, the need for affordable housing has only grown. Families are getting priced out of Seattle, and neighbors are getting pushed into the streets. I’m running for City Council because it doesn’t have to be this way. We can and must build enough housing and shelter for all our neighbors, so we can all afford to live and thrive in the Emerald City. I’m grateful to have received support from local progressive community groups and labor unions

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Executive survey in NoCo, Boulder Valley: Economic expectations mixed for fourth quarter

Daily Camera Boulder News

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KEYWORD SCORE: 24.20. affordable, affordable housing, construction, housing, income, project, real estate, rent

A majority of regional executives expect business conditions to improve or stay about the same in the fourth quarter, but a significant percentage — more than 40% — expect the economy to worsen. That’s according to the fourth-quarter CEO Roundtable Executive Survey, conducted by BizWest. The quarterly survey focuses on C-level executives in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado. BizWest conducts CEO Roundtables in both areas, with executives gathering to discuss trends, opportunities and challenges within their industries. About 34% of respondents expect business conditions to remain about

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The CDFI Fund Won Allies in Red States and Major Banks. Now It’s Counting on Them to Survive.

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 23.42. development, growth, house, housing, income, rent, urban

[image: The Bottom Line] The Revolution Mill redevelopment in Greensboro, North Carolina, was developed with funding from Durham-based community development financial institution Self-Help. (Photo by Self-Help / Joey Seawell) Determined. Pivotal. Optimistic. At the Opportunity Finance Network’s annual convening this week, these were some of the words attendees used to describe the current state of community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, as the sector faces increasingly hostile opposition from the White House. “This moment feels different,” Harold Pettigrew, CEO of OFN, said in

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Holding the Line: Transportation Planning in the Trump Era

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 20.36. affordable, bike lane, mobility, project, rent, transportation, urban, walk

(Photo by Taylor Vick / Unsplash) Like many transportation practitioners, I’m clear on my priorities for a successful transportation system. It should be safe, affordable, reliable, equitable, sustainable and easily accessible for all users. This statement should not be controversial or partisan, yet somehow in this current political climate, it is. The Trump administration made numerous policy choices to defund and dissolve these goals for our nation’s transportation systems. They cancelled pedestrian and bike-lane projects that are considered “hostile” to cars, removed equity priorities from

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Ahead of Mayor Race, Noncitizen New Yorkers Grapple with a Voting Policy Failure to Launch

BOLTSmag

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.36. housing, housing crisis, rent, urban

Antonio Alarcón, 30-year-old based in Queens, counts himself as a supporter of Zohran Mamdani’s bid for New York City mayor for a number of practical reasons, like strengthening city school funding, including increasing teacher pay, and other quotidian matters. “He has been able to connect with voters, because they know that the housing crisis is going on, they know about childcare,” he said. But he won’t be able to cast his vote for Mamdani, or anyone for that matter, come Nov. 4. A DACA recipient who arrived in New York City in 2005 as a child from Mexico, Alarcón has been a longtime vocal i

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