26 replies to this topic

[caltrek]

 

 

So people can't choose to live with who they wish? We're one of the biggest police states in the world and don't believe in freedom as our government treats its people like trash. Caltrek, it is time to stop calling ourselves the land of the free.

Even Britain is more free.

 

This is a story about zoning.  So how do you connect that to living with who they choose to live with?

 

If you are talking about discrimination, then that cuts both ways.  Depriving a black person of the right to live in a certain neighborhood certainly deprives that person of the right to live with who he wants to live with.  Incidentally, it also often creates the additional burden of a long commute to work.  There are some real horror stories about how far minorities have to commute to work. Definitely an infringement on their economic freedom.

 

As to zoning, I can actually be a bit of an anarchist on that point.  Sure, separating a noisy smoke noisy belching factory from a multi-family residential area makes a certain amount of sense. Still, zoning commissions often go hog wild when they let loose their zoning maps.  Homeowners Associations can be even worse. They will even tell you what color of paint you can use to paint your house. 

 

You don't like their supervision - well then, you don't have to live in their neighborhood.  Never mind that the majority of the people in that neighborhood actually agree with you.  As you might be able to tell, I have actually had some experience in that area.

 

On it being more free in England.  If you think our government secrets acts are strict...

 

Of course, I am no expert on government secrets acts.

[caltrek]

An expert in geography and sustainable development explains the tiny house movement

 

https://www.alternet...house-movement/

 

Introduction:

(Alternet) Tiny houses are everywhere. They’ve received heavy coverage in the media and there are millions of followers on dozens of pages on social media. While there is no census for these homes, they have seen a surge in popularity in the decade since the Great Recession – witness the prolific growth of tiny house manufacturers, for instance. Originating in the US, tiny homes have also been popping up across Canada, Australia and the UK.

 

Tiny houses are promoted as an answer to the affordable housing crisis; a desirable alternative to traditional homes and mortgages. Yet there are many complexities and contradictions that surround these tiny spaces, as I discovered when I began investigating them.

 

I have toured homes, attended tiny house festivals, stayed in a tiny house community and interviewed several dozen people who live inside them. My research took me throughout the US, from a converted accessory unit squeezed between two average size homes on Staten Island to a community in Florida full of cute and brightly coloured tiny structures – appropriately located just down the road from Disneyland. Here are three things I unexpectedly discovered along the way. (Read linked article for further discussion).

[caltrek]

How to build a skyscraper out of wood

 

https://theweek.com/...skyscraper-wood

 

Introduction:

(The Week) Building skyscrapers out of wood: It sounds bizarre, unsafe, maybe even a bit twee. But it could actually be the future of construction.

 

"Each material has its different pros and cons, and there's no reason that timber shouldn't be part of that larger discussion," Todd Snapp, an architect with the global firm Perkins + Will, told The Week. "I can't say it's better than steel or concrete. I can say it should be just as relevant in the discussion of what material to use."

 

Snapp is the design principal guiding the firm's River Beech Tower project, an 800-foot residential skyscraper that would be built almost entirely out of wood.

Artist's rendering of the River Beech Tower project.

Image courtesy of Perkins + Will.

[caltrek]

It’s Time For A Homes Guarantee

 

https://ourfuture.or...homes-guarantee

 

Introduction:

(Our Future) Our nation is in a full-blown housing emergency. Today, a person working full time in a minimum-wage job cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment – anywhere in the United States. More than half of all Americans spend a third or more of their income on housing. Only one in five households that qualify for federal housing assistance receives it.

 

And right now, thanks to President Trump’s irresponsible government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of households may face eviction and homelessness.

 

So we have to ask again, with even greater urgency, the question we put to HUD Secretary Ben Carson when we confronted him in Las Vegas last spring: “Where will we live?”

 

This is the humanitarian crisis we should be talking about: the one that’s right under our noses, and is growing larger every day. Most people – especially low-income families and communities of color – live one emergency away from an eviction. More than three million families and individuals are already experiencing homelessness, including over one million children.

 

We need bold solutions for housing now. That’s why People’s Action members affected by this crisis traveled to Washington from New York, Los Angeles and Chicago to meet with lawmakers in December.

[caltrek]

Boy, does this bring back old memories.   Let's just say that HCD and I go a long way back.

 

California Sues ‘Surf City USA’ for Stonewalling on Affordable Housing

 

https://www.courthou...rdable-housing/

 

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) – California began taking steps Friday to crack down on cities that refuse to comply with the Golden State’s housing laws, slamming the city of Huntington Beach over its strict development rules that stand in the way of affordable housing development amid a housing crisis.

 

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said state Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit against Huntington Beach in Orange County Superior Court on Friday, the first lawsuit of its kind as the state looks to address the housing crisis by holding local government officials accountable for refusing to share the burden.

 

While Newsom’s office noted Huntington Beach was on track to meet state standards, it reversed course in 2013 and by 2015 had violated state law by refusing to build a sufficient number of affordable housing units. The City Council rejected notice from the state Department of Housing and Community Development and voted down a measure to create both low-income and high-density housing developments – bowing to pressure from residents over the demands of the state.

 

By 2016, the city had fallen about 400 affordable housing units short of state mandates.

 

In 2017, California’s housing crisis prompted the passage of Assembly Bill 72. The bill took effect a year ago, and allows the state to rescind a local government’s housing rules if they violate affordable housing requirements.

[caltrek]

I just found this old thread that I would like to hereby incorporate into this thread as it is highly relevant to the theme.

 

 

https://www.futureti...n-a-tiny-house/ 

[caltrek]

Community Land Trusts Come of Age

 

https://nonprofitqua...-policy-agenda/

 

(Introduction)

 

(Nonprofit Quarterly) Here at NPQ, it seems we are always covering the disappearance of affordable housing and the rise of housing prices, of evictions and gentrification, and…well, of all the problems that flow from the unfettered commodification of a basic human need. At some point, we must get to the issue of equity—both the “equity” we hold in our homes and the social equity we gain when decent housing is within the reach of most working families.

 

That is why we want to stop bemoaning our fate for a minute to say there is another way. Happy Birthday, Land Trusts, and we’d like to see more of you!

 

As NPQ has noted, the idea of the community land trust, a form of housing that creates a middle ground between renting and owning, has been gaining visibility. In a community land trust, typically the land is owned by a nonprofit, the buildings are owned by families, and a lease (or deed) specifies how equity gains are shared between the two, allowing for modest equity gains for the family while preserving permanently affordable housing for future homeowners.

 

Now, thanks to a study from the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy and Grounded Solutions Network titled Tracking Growth and Evaluating Performance of Shared Equity Homeownership Programs During Housing Market Fluctuations, we have better data on community land trust housing than ever before. The new study is easily the field’s most comprehensive, with findings culled from more than 4,100 sales or resales of community land trust housing units drawn from 264 cities in 20 states from 1985 to the present.

 

All told, today there are an estimated 12,000 units of community land trust housing nationwide—up from fewer than 2,000 units three decades ago. The first US community land trust was in Albany, Georgia in 1969. As the movement turns 50 this year, there is a growing track record of performance to review.