July 2: What we’re reading this week

Some articles we found interesting this week:

1. According to this article from Business Insider, the national housing crisis is likely to continue for the foreseeable future because of continuing supply constraints dating to the Great Recession. 

2. Renters might finally experience the beneficial effects of falling rents (or at least slower rent inflation) according to this WRAL story.

3. Pending regulatory changes by the Federal Housing Administration may make financing ADU’s easier. Read more from ShelterForce.

4. ShelterForce is running a series on the obstacles facing people with disabilities when searching for housing. Also from ShelterForce.

5. Only Zoning Reform Can Solve America’s Housing Problem, from the Wall Street Journal. 

6. As superstar cities struggle to fill vacant offices and pandemic boomtowns try to contain rising costs, both must double down on density, argues Bruce Schaller in Bloomberg.

7. Southern Urbanism has an interesting article critiquing the “Town Center” concept with references to Cary’s Fenton Development, as well as Chapel Hill’s Southern Village.

8. This New York Times article discusses a recent study of homelessness in California and the “Doom Loop” that follows a person that loses housing for the first time.

9. While most experts argue that part of the ongoing housing crisis is due to low inventory, here’s an opinion piece from Barron’s suggesting low inventory is not actually a problem in the US.

10. American Cities Have a Conversion Problem, and It’s Not Just Offices. Read it in the New York Times.

    Long Reads: If you have a little more time, you might consider these:

1. Zoning change: Upzonings, downzonings, and their impacts on residential construction, housing costs, and neighborhood demographics. 

2. If you’ve wondered about those “We buy ugly houses” signs around Raleigh, consider reading this ProPublica investigation.
   

Read the full July 2nd newsletter here.