Reforms to the real estate transfer tax, which is assessed when properties are sold or otherwise change ownership, are an effective and equitable solution to immediate budget needs, while also supporting important long-term priorities including affordable housing and tenant assistance.
An estimate of the market-feasible production if the state were to allow fourplexes on single-family parcels and analysis of how these impacts vary across regions and cities.
This primer will help policymakers, public officials, advocates, and other stakeholders better understand the many different types of affordable housing, what they accomplish, how they’re regulated, and who they serve.
This summary brief is a preview of a full-length version that includes details about who builds each affordable housing category, who pays, how rents are set and can change over time, and many other policy considerations.
This report examines whether new development in Los Angeles is resulting in the widespread loss, through demolition, of older, more affordable housing units.
A fee deferral program would preserve the quantity — and depending on policy design, also the timing — of public fee revenues, while reducing private carrying costs.
An explanation of how city councils and planning departments can use the housing element law to increase housing supply, but find themselves constrained by neighborhood-level opposition to change.
In this paper I introduce the concept of the “zoning buffer” — the gap between the existing housing stock and the maximum number of homes allowed by current zoning — and describe how it affects land values and ultimately the production and affordability of housing.
This brief studies the relationship between transit ridership and the housing development process. Even if new multifamily housing is allowed on a site, a complicated, lengthy or unpredictable process could still discourage its production and thus, transit ridership.
This background paper is meant to help the California State Auditor and legislators better understand the limitations of the RHNA process and areas for improvement.
