Ben Preis

We Need More Policy Entrepreneurs to Solve the Housing Crisis Amid a growing wealth of good ideas to address the housing shortage, we need to make sure the right ones reach the right places.

Very excited to contribute to #TheRooftop at from @futurelandhousing.bsky.social at New America. My piece discusses the roadblocks that face the diffusion of policy innovations in housing and how policy entrepreneurs can help overcome some of these barriers. www.newamerica.org/future-land-...

Research Assistant/Sr. Research Assistant Company Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Job Description Summary Research assistants (RAs) at the Philadelphia Fed play a key role in the Economic Research Department. Whether they are helping eco...

I am looking for a research assistant to work with me on the development of U.S. housing markets. Experience with ArcGIS, Stata useful. We build datasets that allow us to understand housing affordability, the impacts of transit and zoning, and more:
rb.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FRS/jo...

After a tremendous year of work, I'm pleased to announce that the National Housing Crisis Task Force has released its State & Local Housing Action Plan. With 15 bold ideas to address the housing shortage, we hope this plan can help local leaders act now. nationalhousingcrisis.org/app/uploads/...

Californians... talk to me about SB750. Any analysis of the proposal and its potential impacts? @resnikoff.bsky.social @mnolangray.bsky.social

Hartog or Schragger, you mean? I'll admit that I read Hartog excerpts in Frug's class before reading the book on its own, so I see them as interrelated even if in conversation with each other.

One more thought — though if you're not into legal history, maybe not — but it pairs well with City Power by Rich Schragger and with City Making by Gerald Frug.

But in my recollection in the book, it's a lot about "what is a city"? What sort of powers can and should it have? What sort of powers should be off limits? Though we tend to view federal/state/local govs as all "the government" there was a time when local govs were treated very differently.

I think there are also some lessons to be learned vis-a-vis local/state relations. A lot of the state preemption, state constitutional language around "general legislation" all come from cities like NYC and Philadelphia engaging in intense lobbying in the 19th century.

For me, the legal history shows how the distinction between "public corporations" and "private corporations" is relatively new, and how much power NYC used to have to compel private citizens towards public improvements.

This is, hands down, one of my favorite academic books of all time. Revelatory for me in so many ways.

We use crisco!

I'm excited for it! I just want it... Every weekend. All year.

I know I'm not the first one to make the critique, but it is a sad state of affairs to celebrate a not-quite-monthly, nbhood-specific street closure when major cities all around the world close arterial roads every weekend. Just wish DC could get there.

Feels like Terner Labs Housing Supply Simulator is trying to be the thing that can do that, though I don't think they've expanded east yet.

That's a... fair point and my bad.

Where are you getting the "homes in poor shape" number? (I wouldn't disagree, just curious where you're pulling that number from.)

I imagine CDBG will definitely fall under the memo. I'm less certain (but pessimistic) about HCVs and PHA operating subsidies.

If you're referring to the list that's gone semi-viral on here, it's... A ChatGPT guess of what might be affected. bsky.app/profile/grav...

Really excited to read this paper by a great group of scholars studying a critical issue as different forms of rental property ownership continues to be an issue vexing local communities.

Housing Policy Debate has opened a call for papers exploring the question "How does housing policy impact the racial wealth gap?"  (1/2)

Is there a recent-ish digest paper of state-level housing affordability/production interventions?

Maybe billionaires buying newspapers wasn't the best solution to the local news crisis.

I *think* that Atlanta's UDC technically has all of those powers. The bond authority might be contingent on the Housing Authority. And it's conceivable that the city may not use the zoning or eminent domain powers, but I'm pretty sure AUDC has them if it wants them!

Does anyone know of a database of which states/localities offer tax abatements/exemptions for affordable housing - and what those abatement requirements are?

@yfreemark.bsky.social @cbgoodman.co maybe you know of something?

As its written, I think you're right. But given that we treat "capital A affordable" housing differently than market-rate housing — and "Affordable Housing" is defined elsewhere in the bill, it just seems like a strange approach to me?

I'm also confused by the bill language. It doesn't define "Affordable Housing" for the purpose of the building code. Would it just apply to deed restricted/subsidized units? Would it imply to stakeholders that affordable housing is of lower quality than market-rate construction? Or something else?

Thus, it's not clear to me whether a "National Building Code for Affordable Housing" is meant to be a building code that would apply to affordable housing, or whether the building code is meant to make housing more affordable — regardless of whether it is subsidized/deed restricted/etc.

Reading the bill, "Affordable Housing" also isn't defined under Title III (the Title that would establish the building code).

I appreciate the spirit of a national model building code (it's in the report that the National Housing Crisis Task Force just released earlier this month), but I'm skeptical of an *Affordable Housing building code* as that could imply that affordable housing is held to a lower standard.

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