Policy – Cantilever Real Estate

Akron looks to deflate minimum lot size rules to spur infill

June 5, 2026 by bp56691

Leaders in Akron, a heartland city nearly 40 miles south of Cleveland, hope to shed the city’s “Rust Belt” label and drive its emerging revival by making it easier to build new homes. To achieve the objective, planners believe they’re on the verge of eliminating minimum lot sizes to counteract a shrinking-city paradox. Population loss […]

Pennsylvania ADU bill clears House, heads to Senate

June 2, 2026 by bp56691

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declared he intended to go big on housing. On Monday, at least one piece of that ambition cleared the state House with a bipartisan vote, setting up a tougher sell in the Republican-controlled Senate. The House passed House Bill 2186, requiring municipalities statewide to allow one accessory dwelling unit per residential […]

Mamdani’s $22 billion ‘grand bargain’ for NYC affordable housing

May 27, 2026 by bp56691

Zohran Mamdani ran for mayor on one promise: make New York City affordable again. This week, he moved to further dismantle the rules New York spent decades erecting to prevent residential density. Mamdani released a 10-year housing plan pledging to build 200,000 new affordable homes while preserving 200,000 more. “These are the most ambitious affordable […]

HUD urges states to cut fees, simplify codes and fast-track permits

May 20, 2026 by bp56691

HUD urges fee caps, code limits, and faster permits, citing over $100,000 in regulatory costs per new single-family home.

ROAD wins House nod, carving BTR out from institutional investor ban

May 20, 2026 by bp56691

House passed the ROAD to Housing Act 396-13, removing a 7-year BTR selloff rule while keeping a 350-home investor ban with carve-outs.

Fault lines surface as projects tap California’s CEQA exemption law

May 19, 2026 by bp56691

Last July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a landmark law shielding apartment and residential projects from lengthy environmental review processes to boost the state’s housing supply and improve affordability. It’s working – but not without a fight. Developers wasted no time seizing the opportunity. A growing list of housing developments are securing exemptions from reviews […]

New Rochelle housing surge proves predictable zoning’s impact

May 12, 2026 by bp56691

New Rochelle embraced the abundance mindset long before the “yes in my backyard ” crowd made it cool. Today, the city, 25 minutes north of New York City by train, is a reference point for how zoning reform and predictable approvals can speed mixed-income housing production citywide. The city built on a 2015 rezoning that […]

Ivory Prize honors solutions in a higher rate, higher risk backdrop

May 12, 2026 by bp56691

The affordability crisis in American housing demands more invention, more experimentation and more scalable models to break through the chronic chokeholds of economic, building-technology, and political will. The hard truth is that, against a backdrop of a harsher-than-expected new-home sales season and a higher-for-longer interest-rate environment, the operating environment is making it harder to fund, […]

After pushback, New Hampshire course-corrects pro-housing laws

May 8, 2026 by bp56691

Last year, New Hampshire lawmakers jumped on the bandwagon of state legislatures targeting a worsening housing shortage by mandating that local governments permit multifamily housing in commercially zoned areas. The effort sought to boost housing supply and improve affordability by stripping away local zoning authority. Local governments, true to the state’s “live free or die” […]

Sparks flare over Florida law to target idle golf courses for housing

May 7, 2026 by bp56691

A bill overriding local zoning authority to allow housing on idle Southeast Florida golf courses drew little public attention during Florida’s legislative session. When the Infill Redevelopment Act passed, warnings over problems it could cause bubbled up, but only in limited circles. It passed in March without a single “nay” vote in the Senate and […]