Pritzker’s honor: Illinois housing reform fight intensifies

The fight over Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s sweeping housing reform agenda is intensifying as both sides harden their positions. Supporters and detractors by the thousands delivered their opening arguments Thursday at the first major hearing on Pritzker’s six-bill package. Pritzker’s BUILD plan seeks to lower costs by making construction easier and faster statewide. It would […]

California court curbs Coastal Commission on building permits

A California home builder sought to build three additional houses on lots it had owned for more than two decades in a coastal county. That should have been easy. It had already built four nearby homes. But it wasn’t. Years of court hearings followed when a state agency overrode San Luis Obispo County’s authority and […]

Minimum residential lot size dispute heats up in a Texas county

A battle has brewed over residential lot sizes in Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law last year reducing them in the state’s biggest cities. Since the law didn’t apply statewide, Montgomery County, which abuts Houston, is trying again to increase its lot sizes after doing so last March. County planners say the increase […]

California steps up reform to join the single-stair bandwagon

California lawmakers have been at the forefront of zoning reforms to increase housing supply and affordability. New legislation filed Tuesday would put the state on the path to joining single-stair reform that other states and cities have already adopted. Assemblymember Alex Lee’s newly filed bill proposes increasing housing construction by reforming California’s building code to […]

Trending: employer housing benefits narrow affordability gaps

A growing number of private sector employers have quietly begun offering workers a benefit that helps them live closer to the office at a price they can afford. As housing costs soar, it has been policymakers nationwide who’ve hogged the headlines, zeroing in on zoning reform and regulatory rollbacks as fixes for America’s housing affordability […]