YIMBY News for 2/7

[Eric Budd]

The secret to better public housing

Vox - Policy

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KEYWORD SCORE: 46.63. apartment, density, development, house, housing, income, market-rate, mobility, project, segregate, segregation, urban, walk, zone

[image: A sun-drenched row of modern, multi-story townhouses with varied brick and colorful facades, featuring front porches and sidewalks lined with young trees. In the background, the Cincinnati city skyline rises above a lush canopy of green trees under a clear sky.] A housing development built using HOPE VI funds in Cincinnati. | Courtesy of Torti Gallas + Partners America’s era of big public housing projects was a grand experiment whose period of favor was remarkably short-lived. The austere, often high-rise complexes rose across US cities in a few decades, mostly from the 1930s to 1960s.

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The Weekly Wrap: Virginia Governor Cancels State ICE Contracts

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 42.86. affordable, affordable housing, construction, development, growth, house, housing, land-use, project, rent, renter, supply, transit-oriented, urban, zoning

[image: The Weekly Wrap] Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers her State of the Commonwealth address before a joint session of the Virignia General Assembly at the Capitol Monday Jan. 19, 2026, in Richmond, Va. (Photo by Steve Helber / AP) *Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental and social justice. * *If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with a friend or colleague and tell them to subscribe.* ------------------------------ Virginia Govern

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Pearl Arts District embarks on Boulder’s review process

Daily Camera Boulder News

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KEYWORD SCORE: 36.19. affordable, affordable housing, construction, density, development, housing, land-use, mixed-use, project, rent, zone, zoning

Boulder planning officials support the general concept for the proposed Pearl Arts District — an ambitious $632 million plan to bring a performance venue, hotel, shopping and hundreds of residences to Frontier Avenue — but, of course, the devil’s in the details. Developer Conscience Bay Co. presented its vision for the arts and entertainment district in east Boulder — described by a company leader as a “once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-generation project” — to the city’s Planning Board this week during a conceptual plan review hearing. And while officials, who did not take any formal action this

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Boulder pans controversial HOME Act approved by state House

Daily Camera Boulder News

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KEYWORD SCORE: 31.84. affordable, affordable housing, cost of housing, development, house, housing, housing authority, land-use, project, public hearing, regional transportation district, rent, transportation, zone, zoning

The Boulder City Council is largely critical of a bill making its way through the Colorado legislature that would allow certain housing developments to bypass certain zoning restrictions. The Housing Opportunities Made Easier Act, or HOME Act, requires municipalities to allow residential development in any zone, and is subject to a quicker review process than usual. The bill aims to meet Colorado’s rising housing demand by circumventing lengthy processes, which leads to the cost of materials rising and, therefore, the cost of housing also climbing, the bill says. This means housing could be bu

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King County Advocates Push for Transit Funding Measure in 2026

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 23.42. complete street, density, rent, transportation, urban

A broad array of transit advocates are asking King County Executive Girmay Zahilay to put forward a funding measure to boost investments in countywide transit service this year. The request is a tall order, and would require intense coordination with Seattle, where local leaders are currently developing the next iteration of a city-specific transit funding measure set to expire in early 2027. With King County Metro facing structural budget issues that are likely to result in a fiscal cliff early in the next decade, and bus service across the county still trailing pre-pandemic levels, a group t

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What’s Working: How Denver’s Art Gym went from private passion project to artist co-op

Colorado Sun

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KEYWORD SCORE: 23.06. affordable, affordable housing, development, growth, house, housing, project, rent

------------------------------ *Parker Yamasaki* *Reporter* ------------------------------ *Quick links: Co-op steps | Babies boost Colorado’s population | DougCo’s star tracker | AT&T enters Colorado fiber market | Quantum updates | Restaurant weeks | Health care internships | Money for apprenticeships* Lucas Luna comes from a long line of artists, so naturally he wanted to be an engineer. Like many kids, he fought his father about career choice before heading off to college. “He got super-duper angry that I wanted to be an engineer. We got in a big fight,” Luna said. “He’s really smug that I

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Trump’s new Wildland Fire Service is failing to ignite

Vox - Politics

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KEYWORD SCORE: 22.47. development, homeowner, house, parking, parking lot, project, rent, urban, walk

[image: Three firefighters walk in the street in front of a burnt-down house] Wildland firefighters in a hotshot crew from near Klamath, Oregon, search the ruins of houses in a neighborhood where many homes were destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California. | David McNew/Getty Images Wildfires have consumed thousands of buildings, killed dozens of people, and smothered millions in choking smoke in recent years. Blazes like the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025 have also revealed that fighting these massive blazes continues to be hampered by bureaucratic traps — which agency is in charge of

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A Faith-Based Network Is Helping Philly’s Immigrant Families Stay Afloat

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 21.53. house, housing, project, rent, urban

Minority Leader Kendra Brooks and Democratic Councilmember At-Large Rue Landau announced the "ICE Out" package of legislation outside City Hall on Jan. 27, 2026. (Photo courtesy Office of Councilmember Rue Landau) *This story was produced as part of Next City’s joint Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship with Resolve Philly’s Germantown Info Hub.* Last fall, as his child watched, a Northwest Philly father was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after more than 20 years of living in the United States. Unlike many others detained by the agency, he was released and allowe

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