YIMBY News for 11/20

[Eric Budd]

The Challenge of Commercial Upzoning

Darrell Owens Substack

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KEYWORD SCORE: 73.27. affordable, apartment, construction, density, development, downtown, fair housing, growth, higher-density, house, housing, impact fee, income, mixed-use, mobility, nimby, parking, parking garage, parking lot, preservation, project, rent, supply, transit-oriented, transportation, urban, walk, yimby, zone, zoning

Foot traffic in Downtown Berkeley at University Ave. and Milvia St. at 7 PM. Two brand new apartment homes built with local, small businesses occupying the ground floors. Flanking both are older commercial strips with popular restaraunts. This was formerly a late-night cafe and an autoshop parking lot. San Francisco is in the midst of a political war over the Family Zoning plan, which re-zones commercial corridors on the west side of the city for higher-density apartments. Oakland has already re-zoned its iconic Rockridge district along College Ave. for mid-rise buildings several months ago, w

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Katie Wilson to Inherit Seattle’s Budget Woes

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 37.36. affordable, affordable housing, development, downtown, house, housing, housing and urban development, hud, project, rent, urban

After winning a close mayoral election, Wilson’s challenges are just beginning, with Harrell leaving behind a budget mess. Mayor Bruce Harrell’s 2026 City budget proposal involved several new revenue sources but has failed to address Seattle’s long-term structural deficit. The City projects the 2027 deficit will exceed $127 million, and economic turmoil and increasing chaos and hostility from the federal government further undermine the future financial stability of the city. As the Seattle City Council nears the finishing line for the city’s 2026 budget, some councilmembers seem determined to

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These Counties Spend Transit Tax Money on Ride Services. They’re Lifelines for Thousands.

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 32.17. house, housing, project, real estate, rent, transportation, urban, walk

Kane County resident Laura Graf boards the Pace bus outside her home in St. Charles in September. (Photo by Grace Hauck / Illinois Answers Project) *This story was originally published by the Illinois Answers Project.* Laura Graf, 72, doesn’t have a car, so she relies on Kane County’s dial-a-ride program to get to church each Sunday morning. Vanessa Bromir, who is legally blind, uses a similar service in Lake County to send her daughter to daycare and get to medical appointments. In rural McHenry County, Patty Moeller regularly schedules rides for the clients of the homeless shelter where she

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Why prices won’t — and shouldn’t — go down

Vox - Politics

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KEYWORD SCORE: 27.61. affordable, growth, house, housing, income, rent, supply

[image: A man shops for produce in a grocery store] A supermarket in Monterey Park, California, on September 9, 2025. | Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images Before his second term, then-former President Donald Trump ran a campaign in 2024 promising to lower the prices of pretty much everything. “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down. Starting on day one,” he said. And in the months since retaking office, Trump has said, “The economy’s doing great. The stock market’s higher now than when I came to office.” But regular folks — people outside of the administration — aren’t necessaril

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Book Review: How a Highway Map Wrecked Baltimore

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 26.55. downtown, house, housing, income, project, real estate, rent, segregate, transportation, urban

Road to Nowhere author Emily Lieb is speaking at Elliott Bay Books on November 20. Much has been written about the negative effects of urban highways in the U.S., but they mostly focus on neglect, displacement, and gridlock that are consequences of *completing* the projects. Local author Emily Lieb’s new book, “Road to Nowhere: How a Highway Map Wrecked Baltimore”, shows that you don’t even have to build a highway in order to scar a city; you only need a map and some patience. Automobile proponents’ persistence pays off, literally, because their friends are able to make an obscene amount of mo

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Cities around the state get funds to help encourage more ADUs

Colorado Public Radio

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KEYWORD SCORE: 23.14. development, homeowner, housing, housing cost, project, supply, zoning

The state is awarding close to $1 million in grants to seven communities to bolster the development of accessory dwelling units, known as ADUs, as part of a broader effort to increase the housing supply in an attempt to lower housing costs. It follows a new statewide law that requires communities to allow homeowners to add ADUs to their properties, and fits in with Gov. Jared Polis’ ongoing push for state-level housing policies. “ADUs expand housing options that more Coloradans can afford, and these new grants offer Coloradans extra funding in helping to break ground on a new ADU,” said Polis

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Boulder cell tower is at center of lawsuit between AT&T, developer

Daily Camera Boulder News

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KEYWORD SCORE: 21.70. affordable, development, house, housing, parking, parking lot, real estate, rent, zone

A roughly 42-foot cell tower stands at the back of the City Church parking lot, located off Jay Road in north Boulder. It also stands in the middle of a lawsuit between a cellular company and a real estate developer. An LLC registered with Virginia real estate developer Margaret Freund wants to knock down the tower en route to building an 84-unit housing community, according to documents filed by AT&T earlier this month in U.S. District Court. “We sought this emergency order to protect the vital wireless connectivity that thousands of Boulder County residents, businesses, and public safety age

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Colorado, other states demand millions from real estate giant they say helped inflate rent prices

Colorado Public Radio

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.89. affordable, apartment, housing, housing crisis, occupancy, real estate, rent, renter

Colorado and eight other states proposed a settlement this week with Greystar Management Services LLC, one of the nation’s largest apartment managers, to resolve claims that the company participated in a scheme that drove up rent, contributed to the ongoing housing crisis , and broke antitrust laws. The proposed settlement stems from a lawsuit filed in January against several of the nation’s largest residential property managers, including Greystar. It alleged the company illegally used algorithmic pricing software to share confidential information about rental rates and occupancy with other r

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Storage building, 281 apartments could rise in east Boulder

Daily Camera Boulder News

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.03. apartment, development, live-work, mixed-use, project

Shipping containers are being used for storage at a 7.1-acre site in east Boulder, but that parcel could soon be home to an 85,000-square-foot commercial storage building — along with 281 apartment units. The Boulder City Council will get a look Thursday at the plan by Trammell Crow Residential and Coburn Architecture for the mixed-use development at 4880 and 4898 Pearl St., just east of Foothills Parkway. According to the plans approved in October by the city’s planning staff, the apartment complex would include studio, live-work, one-, two- and three-bedroom units in three- and four-story bu

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