News, Views and Analysis from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments
Despite the pandemic and the high cost of lumber, the Bay Area is seeing increases in apartment construction this year in both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas, where a combined total of 13,000 new units are expected to enter the market, according to a new report from RENTCafé . Read More
San Francisco experienced a significant drop in median lot sizes from the 1920s up to the present day, according to a new report by STORAGECafé that looks at home and lot sizes around the nation. Read More
Beginning Monday, construction can resume in many Bay Area counties after stay-at-home orders stopped many projects in their tracks. Read More
RENTCafe's latest findings on the apartment market show builders have shifted from sprawl to tall to meet the ravenous demand for living space in the Bay Area. High-rise intensification gained momentum in the past three decades, giving birth to a new market segment: apartment high-rises and skyscrapers. Read More
A new article in Slate poses that the housing problem in the Bay Area and throughout the state is a generational issue. Read More
Despite a large demand for housing, new projects have dipped over the last two years, according to a report in MarketWatch based on federal data released Friday. Read More
A website — www.whatmighthavebeen.squarespace.com — highlights (with illustrations) a number of plans around the region that would have given the Bay Area a much different look today if they had come to fruition.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 23. Highlights included the Commission offering a "Support and Seek Amendments" positionon a State Assembly bill related to BART transit-oriented development (prompting a lively debate on regional housing and local zoning control), as well as approval of a pilot program that will provide 20 percent fare discounts to low-income adults on several major Bay Area transit operators. Read on for all the Commission actions of the day, as well as links to the video recording of the meeting and all the handouts. Read More
The latest dispatch from America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers from the U.S. Census provides an in-depth look at how data informs advocacy on both sides of the Bay Area’s housing debate. The story, NIMBY Meets YIMBY: Housing Movement Pushes for More Housing, shows how Census data is used to analyze everything from jobs to housing balance, rent burdens, building permit data and demographic change. From the article: Recently, the quest for housing affordability has dominated the national conversation. According to the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year estimates, 38.2 percent of Read More
Last year was a very active year for housing legislation in California, with approval of a housing package that included new funding for affordable housing as well as some modest regulatory changes. It appears, however, this may have just been a warm-up act for 2018. Currently, there are nearly 20 different major housing bills under consideration by lawmakers in the state’s capitol. Outside organizations are also organizing to place various housing-related measures on the statewide ballot in November 2018. In this post, we’ll provide an overview of these various bills and initiatives and then Read More