Community Planning

The City of Calgary in Alberta is growing, but not in the right places. The City's plan calls for adding population in parts of the city that are already...

Experience the opportunity to idle at a newly-installed stop light protecting a shiny new housing development. Take sideways glances at shiny new residences. Do you feel you know who...

The Guardian published an article by author David Van Reybrouk in 2016, not long after the United Kingdom had voted by the slimmest of margins to leave the European...

We've heard it all before. Zoning is blocking the path to building new housing. But when you read this article from National Public Radio (NPR), you begin to get...

While there is general agreement that there is a housing crisis, there are longstanding debates about how to fix it. One of those debates is about where new housing...

Public power utilities are not a new idea, but the one described in this article is a little different. It started as a discussion about reducing flooding in the community...

Hospitals have discovered that there is more to the cost of demolishing houses than the demolition and disposal feeTry: Urban Redevelopment: A Case Of Failing To See Who’s There...

No Plan. No Zoning. No Partnerships. No Money. No Supervision. No purpose. A large American city is tackling a program to, at the very least, support SOME changes that...

'Gentle Densification' is one way (in the United Kingdom at least) to build more housing in a world gone unaffordably mad as housing 'financialization' forces housing prices up and...

Continuing with the theme of cross-subsidy funding for affordable housing, here is another article from the United Kingdom. This one is about greenfield development, which refers to building new...

This is part of a series that looks at housing and homelessness in South Africa and Canada. It might be a source of inspiration/direction for housing efforts in either...

There is currently some discussion of the idea — nay, even importance — of the value of 'community' within UK housing. This post ultimately targets a discussion about the...

Here is a report about fixing the homelessness crisis. Unlike many articles, this one does not recommend clearing encampments and moving people onIf you haven't come across this sordid...

In Australia, Skynews recently interviewed Melina Morrison, the CEO of the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals. Morrison was up to bat in order to speak about housing cooperatives,...

The City of Ottawa has a new mayor, who naturally wants to make an impression on his city. To that end, he's put together a task force to review...

"What took us to the back 40, stays in the back 40." That was the thought of this writer, some years ago when renting a country cottage. Why were...

When this writer was growing up, there was a ridiculous ad for packaged mints. It featured two people arguing about whether the mint was a breath freshener or a...

The Canadian province of Ontario is in the midst of a housing crisis. The number of people who are homeless is growing. A large number of people who have...

Portugal shares the Iberian Peninsula with Spain, which is currently in the affordable housing news for its 'Right to Housing' law. Spain's new law includes regulatory solutions for renters,...

Good heavens, of course we can learn stuff from social media! Millions use it. Surely those millions must know something useful they can pass on? But . . . how...

In any program to add affordable and deeply affordable homes to housing stock, zoning comes into play. Zoning has been presented as the process to obtain "the highest and...

The United Way of Greater Toronto has recently issued a report called Building Inclusive Communities: Learning from Programs and Policies that Work. Much of Canada's population growth in the...

Why is it important to have a universal definition of human rights such as the U.N.'s Human Right to Adequate Housing? For those of us fortunate enough to live in...

A recent report has been published about housing and homelessness policy in Ireland. The report was commissioned by six voluntary agencies that are on the front line in delivering...

We know there are overwhelming problems where people who are homeless gather together in unofficial tent camps. Celebrity Dr. Drew Pinsky warns us of "tent encampments with 'multiple rodent-borne,...

A tempest in a teapot at a Lanark County Council (Ontario) hearing raises some useful questions for housing activists. Presentations were made at an 2022 Community Services Committee meeting...

Slowly but surely governments are coming to grips with the idea that housing affects people's health. This should be good news, especially for the people who pay excessive amounts...

Katłįà (Catherine) Lafferty is a member of the Yellowknives First Nation. In an article in Policy Options, she illustrates how an aboriginal-led approach to child welfare would have made...

"Glad you could all make it to hear me out. Here's the problem. All three of you couples would like to buy this house, but you are from South...

Sheryll Cashin, a professor from Georgetown University in the United States, says that we need to change our thinking when it comes to community planning. She argues that current...

One thing you can say about local governments – they really can't turn away from the housing struggles of their residents. And to their credit, local governments in Canada have...

'Naturally affordable' housing is the the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker of urban housing. (Not quite as likely to be extinct, true enough. The last recorded Ivory-Bill sighting in its Louisiana swamp...

During the first months of COVID in England, media attention focused on the high rate of infection among Black and South Asian residents. The homes of Black and South...

If public housing is meant to be transitional rather than transformativeTry: Public Housing Futures: Transitional Or Transformative?, it follows that public housing must be located within striking distance of...

Upzoning! Brought to you by those developer-folks who once facilitated the American Suburban Dream! Now they want suburbanites to change their living spots, or at least nudge over a...

If you live in a large city anywhere, it's not hard to put eyes on the dominating concept for the municipal change: "top down" city development. Just gaze on...

As the old real estate saying goes, "The three most important considerations when choosing a home are location, location, and location." The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly turned that saying on...

In the decades following World War II, many governments invested in civic infrastructure to keep their economies growing and wipe away the bombed neighbourhoods, which were visible vestiges of...

When it comes to building more affordable housing, zoning has a high profile. An article in the New Yorker argues that by focussing on zoning, we miss the importance...

What might those most concerned about affordable housing have expected from the recent Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, held in the shadow of a crash-out Brexit powered by a...

Bernie Sanders, the renowned Independent senator who turns Democratic when it suits him, has been a darling of American progressives since the runup to the 2016 presidential election, where...

An article in the Baltimore Sun puts the boots to America's current favourite way of building affordable housing — through inclusionary zoning projects that produce partially affordable housing complexes....

Yes indeed, the leopard may change its spots. And the scorpion crossing the river on the back of the frog may not sting it, so that they both drown....

Just recently, the Business Roundtable, a group of very large companies called a press conference. The purpose? Why, to say that in addition to being about shareholder profits, business...

The last few years have seen experimental 'cargotecture' experiments worldwide. The base of this affordable housing is the widely available shipping container, retired from seagoing duties but still full...

Confused about what affordable housing really is? You are not alone. Austin City Council would appear to be more than confused, indeed thoroughly bamboozled. Which is just where any...

Before we dig too far into the possibilities of street-by-street zoning, we need to get a prejudice of ours off our chests. The article linked below attributes this zoning...

What are conservatives actually conserving? Some hold the idea that conservatives are conserving endearing and enduring values of liberalism.If you can handle all the flips and flops and mixups...

What do Baby Boomers Need? Fresh air and sunlight (which we all need). But surprisingly, seniors, along with the rest of us, need surprisingly little as it turns out. A...

The Halifax Regional Municipality has decided that its zoning by-laws, parts of which are 50 years old, need updating. Ten years ago it embarked on a review process that...

Urban sprawl is beginning to receive a technical analysis that threatens its existence. It is the very foundation of the so-called "American Dream" — a single house on a...

Two years ago, after a two year process, the City of Boulder approved by a vote of 7-2 an ordinance to allow housing co-operatives as dwelling units. Opponents felt...

Earlier this week, Sidewalk Labs released its long awaited proposal to develop a site on Toronto's Waterfront. It's called Toronto Tomorrow. There are proposals in for affordable housing, so...

The stain of gang-controlled, crime-riddled public/social housing lingers on in North American public imagination. "Like Cabrini Green in Chicago," said Christel Kjenner, referring to an infamous United States public housing project, now demolished.

Simple solutions have a way of finding themselves. Some reports suggest that at ground zero of the affordable housing crisis — the state of California — grand schemes for generating...

A series of councillor exchanges reported from Markham, a satellite city of Toronto, add up to nothing much on their surface. The subject is about a set of 'back-to-back...

A vast, worldwide, low-end hotel/motel industry specializes in providing affordable housing. Should it voluntarily take charge of solving the affordable housing crisis internationally, or in any single country? We might ask the same question about the wildly successful internet-based B&B industry.

So we're shining the sweat-inducing perp spotlight on some badly behaving city council. Which one, in which country? Consider this a blanket indictment of too many municipal councils facing affordable...

The beating drums of housing industry lobbyists thunder on incessantly, drumming the industry's idea of good sense into the beleaguered brains of city councils worldwide. One example: it only...

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are separate living suites within a principal residence, or standing alone somewhere on the property of that residence. A recent report from California has suggested...

Just Build More! It's the battle cry of the American Housing Industry, as well as their fellow-travellers in the YIMBYYes, In My Back Yard. For more, try: Trendy YIMBY...

A striking feature of virtually all NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) affordable housing confrontation is the mantle of fake history draped across the defence battlements. That so-called history...

Does a tourist town need affordable accommodations for citizens and seasonal workers? Or does it need STRs (Short Term Rentals) to attract tourists? For towns and cities like Bar...

A constant drumbeat of housing industry advocacy targets over-regulation in the housing industry. Higher density, lower floor space, smaller lots, skip the housing inspectors — all these will allow...

A useful article out of Portland, Maine does a fine job of explaining why the bloom is off the rose when it comes to that darling of equality advocates...

Upzoning! Beloved by the housing industry. Championed by the recent so-called YIMBY movement (Yes In My Back Yard).We consider YIMBY's acronym to be 'so called' because it does not...

In recent years, the UK government has relentlessly pushed a public/private partnership model to build the nation out of an affordable housing crisis. As time goes by, the meagre handfuls...

Well, you have to hand it to New Zealand, where politicians sure know how to stage an affordable housing shipwreck. Kiwibuild! Such warm nation-embracing star power in the name! Such...

Following World War II, the victorious Soviet Union took stock of a housing crisis to end all housing crises in the endless fields of rubble that lay across the...

Downzoning is, not surprisingly, the opposite of upzoning. A classic, controversial attempt to do city-wide upzoning has recently made the news in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis residential zoning districts, which previously...

Unaffordable housing is, for an increasing many, an inconvenience. A major home life and work disruption, quite possibly. A temporary upheaval that may affect lifelong happiness, no question. But when...

Boomtowns? Not necessarily the cities you might expect any more. There is a growing flight of fed-up workers from the world's great cities — people looking for less expensive...

Upzoning is a convenient way to describe a zoning change that increases the density of housing within an existing residential zone. There are a limited number of ways that urban...

For many towns blessed with a college or university, there is a certain pride in hosting an institution of higher learning. Far more important for the health of the...

Edmonton, Alberta likes the idea of doing its own online video channel to promote the programs that City Council has approved. However, a recent opinion piece in the Edmonton Journal uses...

In Vancouver, Canada, a vibrant, modern city that has un-planned its way into a housing crisis, two respected university professors have unleashed a mind-boggling fireworks display of opinion, enlightenment...

Those city planners! Give them a bee to put in in their bonnet and they'll ride into the sunset, happily swatting their hat. The latest mainstream planning 'bee' is the...

A contradictory headline describes the dilemma of the City Council in Bristol, which is trying to move quickly to provide affordable housing for their community. The need may be...

The housing in the first bylaw was too large. The housing in the second bylaw was too small. But the housing in the third bylaw was just right. Goldilocks...

Science grew out of the mists of time: potions and folk remedies to cure illness gradually analyzed and improved over the centuries, obsession from the middle ages and beyond...

The Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) and the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) have together released an annual report on the Affordable Housing Crisis in the UK to coincide with...

California, liberal as it may be, is ground zero for activist NIMBYites. They have made it difficult or impossible for communities to make progress in the face of both...

In the United Kingdom, affordable housing has been redefined to be anything up to 80% of market value. That makes the war on affordable housing 'a complete red herring'...

Twenty years ago, The Province of Ontario merged the City of Toronto with 5 other municipalities to create one mega-city, now the heart of the fourth largest metropolitan area...

Business managers, bureaucrats, civil servants and politicians seem quite capable of supervising the development of massive housing projects, and are able to factor in all kinds of long-term expenses,...

'Neighborhood character' is one of the most powerful NIMBY weapons that can be aimed at affordable housing. The neighborhood itself has a superficial existence in the eyes of all...

Can academic planning theory take part of the blame for a growing worldwide affordable housing crisis? It has long been proposed (and seems perfectly reasonable on the surface) that...

It's all the rage to consult with the community to determine its wants and needs. Cynics might say that community administrations save money by always consulting, seldom acting. However, there...

A 'pricy' affordable housing project has Portland, Oregon's mayor Ted Wheeler on the defensive after blessing an unusual construction technique. The unusual? The building will be the tallest in America...

Growing larger and more frightening day by day, the Affordable Housing Crisis in America should be a major topic of debate in the run-up to last year's elections. But...