Credit: Josh Olalde on Unsplash
The US housing market needs 5.5 million more units, according to a new report by National Association of Realtors, which is calling for a “once-in-a-generation response.” From 2001 to 2020, builders added an average of 1.25 million new units each year, according to the report. That number is down from an average of 1.5 million new units from 1968 to 2000. This long-simmering problem burst into acute crisis over the past several months, with huge numbers of potential first-time-buying millennials unable to find a home to buy.
Single family home prices are up 12% from a year ago, as buyers compete with all cash bids above asking price with contingency waived, often on the first day a house is listed and sometimes sight unseen. All this is of course great for sellers and existing homeowners, and indeed homeownership has always been the best way to build wealth in the US. But therein lies the root of the crisis.
The biggest constraint on new housing construction is a combination of restrictive zoning, local ordinances, and neighborhood antipathy towards dense development—NIMBY-ism. These constraints, taken together, have blocked enough construction projects to take millions of units off the market for buyers and renters alike.
This is a sticky problem without an easy solution and over the next several months we will use this space to explore how different communities are addressing it. In the meantime, repeat after me:
Shout out to all the developers reading this. Keep up the good work.
Credit: @benjaminrgrant / @digitalglobe
The basic unit of urban design is the city block. It's the structure on which a city is built, and impacts of the lives of residents. This guide, at ArchDaily, defines different types of blocks and provides beautiful overhead images of examples. This proves our correct opinion that the chamfered Cerdà block is superior to all other blocks, don't even bother trying to persuade us otherwise. This concludes block talk.
Tomorrow (June 18) we're having a special event at Florida Mining Gallery as part of our exhibition with McKenna Anderson, mini golf of sensual sports. It involves audience participation. Plus there's food and drinks!
Come say hi!
This dude doesn't care about the so-called labor shortage.