Last year, the city of Berlin agreed to a five year rent freeze for some 1.5 million flats constructed before 2014. The way it was initially approved is that it would freeze rents at mid-2019 levels and allow for only 1.3% inflationary increases. All of… Read More
On February 1, 2017, an inclusionary zoning ordinance came into effect in Portland, mandating that all new residential projects with 20 or more units dedicate a portion of the building to affordable housing. For the first year, the requirement was 8% of all units for… Read More
The average salary of a teacher in the United States was approximately $61,730 last year. This can make homeownership in high cost areas a challenge. Here is a chart from Curbed: Landed is trying to solve this problem by offering downpayment assistance to “essential professionals”… Read More
The American Institute of Architects just presented its 2019 Housing Awards. 12 housing projects were recognized across four categories. Some of the projects I have written about before — such as the Tiny Tower in North Philadelphia. But most of the projects haven’t been covered… Read More
As of August 2018, the City of Toronto has allowed laneway suites (accessory dwelling units) to be built as-of-right in the Toronto and East York area of the city (subject to meeting some criteria). This was a tremendous step forward for the city. And I… Read More
At the end of last month, Toronto City Council adopted the “Housing Now” action plan. The first phase of the plan involves the public marketing of 11 city-owned sites for the purpose of finding non-profit and private sector partners to help redevelop the lands with… Read More
Some of you may want to debate the “center of the world” title (New York may be more deserving), but Laura Parker of National Geographic recently published a great essay describing the tremendous growth that London has seen over the last 30 years thanks to in part… Read More
I really like what has been put forward for Block 8 in the newly developing West Don Lands neighborhood of Toronto. Here is a rendering looking east from the Distillery District toward the proposed westernmost tower: It feels like an extension of the Distillery District,… Read More
Each year, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are tasked with designing and then physically building a new single-family house in an economically depressed neighborhood. Sometimes, like this year, the house may have multiple dwelling units. I have always thought that this… Read More
There are a number of affordable housing plans being thrown around in Toronto right now given that we have a municipal election coming up this fall. From what I have read, the plans are largely centered around surplus and/or available public land and possibly some… Read More
