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☆ Low-income Americans wait years to get housing vouchers that are often impossible to use. Fixing the system could mean more funding and less red tape.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-18 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, also known as Section 8, is also the biggest, aiding about 5 million people in 2.3 million households. While it's illegal in some places to discriminate against voucher holders, the practice isn't outlawed everywhere. Fully funding housing vouchers would mean many more housing-insecure and unhoused people would get help. Related storiesIn its budget for fiscal year 2025, the Biden administration requested a $2.5 billion increase for voucher funding over 2023 levels. Researchers at the Department of Housing and Urban Development have proposed piloting a direct cash transfer program for rent as an alternative to housing vouchers.

Persons: Will Fischer, Biden, Jenny Schuetz, isn't, Lindsey Nicholson, Michael Stegman, Stegman, Tara Radosevich, Fischer, Schuetz Organizations: Service, Business, of Housing, Urban Development, Budget, Harvard, The New York Times, Republicans, Brookings Institute, Getty, Urban Institute, HUD, Washington State, Department of Housing Locations: —, Los Angeles, Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Iowa, Long Island City, Queens, Oregon

Dr. Shafik herself was preparing to confer with the university senate, which could censure her as soon as Friday. On Monday, police were called in to make dozens of arrests at Yale and New York University. Mr. Johnson’s visit to campus will not include a meeting with Dr. Shafik. The university senate could vote on a resolution to censure Dr. Shafik as soon as Friday — not long after the 48-hour negotiation period concludes. By calling in the police anyway, the resolution said, Dr. Shafik had endangered both the welfare and the futures of the arrested students.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Nemat Shafik, Shafik, Kathy Hochul, Emerson, Johnson’s, Columbia, —, “, ” Brendan O’Flaherty, Grayson, Kirk’s, Dr, O’Flaherty, Shafik’s, Liset Cruz, Eryn Davis, Annie Karni, Santul Nerkar, Katherine Rosman, Karla Marie Sanford, Ed Shanahan Organizations: Columbia University, New York Police Department, National Guard, Gov, Guard, Yale, New York University, Tufts, University of California, Hamas, New York City Police, Johnson’s, Republicans Locations: York, Gaza, Berkeley, Israel, ”, Washington, Columbia, New

☆ 'Love is Blind' fans are bashing the cookie-cutter Charlotte suburbs featured on the show. Here's how experts say they can be improved.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

"Why aren't we talking about the most terrifying part of Love is Blind: this Charlotte housing development," one viewer posted on X alongside an aerial image of the newly-built cookie-cutter rowhouses. I think my favorite part of this season of Love is Blind is how horrible it makes Charlotte look as a city. But you're still doing the wrong thing," Toderian said of Blu South. "Some folks estimate that before this went into effect, about 84% of the residential land in Charlotte was restricted to only single-family housing," Lallinger said. Editor's note: March 7, 2024 — This article was updated after publication to include a comment from Blu South.

Persons: —, Netflix's, what's, Charlotte, who've, there's, Stefan Lallinger, Yongqiang Chu, Chu, it's, Brent Toderian, Toderian, Charlotte's, UDO, Lallinger, quadruplexes, Stephanie Watkins, Cruz, Watkins, townhomes Organizations: Service, Business, University of North, Blu, North, North Carolina Housing Coalition Locations: Charlotte , North Carolina, Pineville, exurbs, Charlotte, University of North Carolina, they're, North Carolina

☆ How millennials could give the suburbs a much-needed makeover
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The suburbs are home to the vast majority of Americans, including millennials priced out of cities. AdvertisementThese days, the American suburbs are seeing something of a revival after a few decades of the back-to-the-city movement, in which mostly young people flocked to urban centers. The rise of remote work coupled with the soaring costs of urban housing has pulled, or pushed, lots of millennials and others to the suburbs and even far-flung exurbs. Exclusive, isolating, and inconvenient suburbsThe American suburbs have always been flawed in a host of ways. Kotkin says the American suburbs have “won the battle” with cities, reigning as the more economically and demographically dominant place.

Persons: —, ”, Andrew Justus, ” Justus, “ We’ve, Adie Tomer, Tomer, Joe Sohm, Joel Kotkin, Kotkin, “, ” Tomer, Tayana Panova, ” Panova Organizations: Service, Niskanen, Brookings Institution, MIT, Chapman University, National Review, metros Locations: American, it’s, Paoli , Indiana, America’s, Somerville , Massachusetts, Shaker Heights , Ohio, Orange , California, Bronxville, Westchester County, Woodlands, Texas, Houston, ”, walkable, Suburban

☆ The biggest winners — and losers — in the coming AI job apocalypse
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In fact, as other long-term trends take hold, many of these working-class roles are poised for a job explosion. While manufacturing jobs as a whole are expected to stay flat, spending in this industry has boomed to $200 billion each year, tripling in the past five years. "What characterizes the physical labor jobs that are safe for the next five or 10 years are things that are in an unpredictable physical environment," Kweilin Ellingrud, a McKinsey Global Institute director, told me. Instead of replacing these jobs, AI will likely benefit specific roles by making it easier to do the most routine parts of the job. He added: "There are these jobs that are in a middle ground where the physical work may remain but the supervision might be more exposed."

Persons: plumbers, Philip Levine, there's, Mark Muro, barometers, OpenAI, Ellingrud, Muro, Emil Skandul, Tony Blair Organizations: Ford, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Brookings Institution, Accenture, Bureau of Labor Statistics, McKinsey, McKinsey Global Institute, Research, Tony Blair Institute Locations: American, America

☆ Amazon's focus on speed, surveillance drives higher warehouse worker injuries, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

An employee looks for items in one of the corridors at an Amazon warehouse. Amazon warehouse workers are suffering physical injuries and mental stress on the job as a result of the company's extreme focus on speed and pervasive surveillance, according to a new study. The data adds to a drumbeat of scrutiny around Amazon's workplace safety and treatment of warehouse employees. The researchers estimate Amazon is the largest warehouse employer in the country, accounting for an estimated 29% of workers in the industry. In June, a Senate committee led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also launched a probe into Amazon's warehouse safety.

Persons: they've, they're, Sen, Bernie Sanders Organizations: University of Illinois Chicago's Center, Urban Economic, Amazon, Regulators, Walmart, Occupational Safety, Health Administration, U.S, Attorney's, U.S . Department of Justice Locations: U.S

☆ The sure-fire way to save America’s cities? Do what Tokyo does.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

But affordability isn't an issue in the world's biggest city, Tokyo. In collectivist Japan, housing policy is designed to benefit the most people possible. Earthquakes and small homesAnother feature of the Japanese housing market is purely situational: The country is a hotspot for earthquakes. Could the US import Japanese housing policy? Japan's housing policy "is now quite well understood" among American housing advocates and scholars, he says, "whereas it was not even three years ago."

Persons: metropolises, Eric Adams, Alan Durning, Durning, Jiro Yoshida, NIMBYism, Jenny Schuetz, Yoshida, Schuetz, André Sorensen, there's, Sorensen, Nolan Gray, Impermanence, Gray, tradeoffs, Eliza Relman Organizations: US, America it's, New York City, Sightline, Pennsylvania State University, Brookings Institution, University of Toronto, Earthquakes Locations: Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, it's, America, Paris, Japan, inequity, Montana, California, United States, Vienna, Amsterdam, California , Oregon, Washington

☆ YIMBY Movement Is Winning: Build More Houses, Lower Home Prices, Rents
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Eliza Relman | Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The adherents of the "Yes In My Backyard," or YIMBY, movement believe that America's housing crisis comes down to the fundamental tension between supply and demand. Today, nearly 75% of residentially-zoned land in the US is restricted to single-family housing — detached homes designed for one family. Folks are like, 'Oh, we're in a housing crisis for the very first time. Ground zero for the modern YIMBY movement was California, where sky-high home prices forced people to reconsider their attitudes toward development. The city didn't allow new multiunit buildings to be taller or wider than the single-family homes they replaced, making construction less financially attractive to developers.

Persons: Nolan Gray, YIMBYism, Sonja Trauss, Trauss, YIMBYs, NIMBYs, Gray, I'm, —, Bill, They've, Tayfun Coskun, Muhammad Alameldin, Emily Hamilton, We're unwinding, Jenny Schuetz, Greg Gianforte, California YIMBY, Republican Sen, Todd Young, Democratic Sen, Brian Schatz, Eliza Relman, Kelsey Neubauer Organizations: San, San Francisco Bay Area, Urban Institute, Twitter, of Regional Planning, Public, Cato Institute, University of California, Berkeley Terner Center, Housing, George Mason University, Conservative, Brookings Institute, Republican, Todd Young of Indiana, Democratic, Hawaii Locations: California, San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, I'm, Los Angeles County, Florida, Utah, Minneapolis, Oregon, Austin, Dallas, Seattle, Portland , Oregon, Denver, New York, Texas, YIMBYism, We're, Bozeman, Montana, Miami

☆ AI is going to eliminate way more jobs than anyone realizes
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

We didn't see the internet coming, but AI is within viewThe adoption of groundbreaking technology is often hard to predict. The World Economic Forum estimated 83 million jobs worldwide would be lost over the next five years because of AI, with 69 million jobs created — that leaves 14 million jobs that will cease to exist during that timeframe. In the US, the knowledge-worker class is estimated to be nearly 100 million workers, one out of three Americans. The small and large compounding effects of productivity growth across many industries are central to the growth trajectory and the long-run effects of AI. This is an alarmingly trivial amount for an economy of $25 trillion GDP and over 150 million workers.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Joseph Schumpeter, Bill Gates, David Letterman, Paul Krugman, Erik Brynjolfsson, —, Brynjolfsson, Robert Solow, Robert Gordon, provocatively, It's, Gordon, David Autor, Maria Flynn, Flynn, –, Georgia –, Emil Skandul, Tony Blair Organizations: McKinsey, Newsweek, Stanford University, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, Economic, International Labor Organization, Organization for Economic Co, Development, MIT, Congressional, Office, Department of Labor, Tony Blair Institute Locations: Washington, Singapore, New York, Georgia

☆ The genius plan that could bring down skyrocketing home prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Not only did this help to slow down skyrocketing housing costs, it inspired a bipartisan, nationwide expansion of the policy. Home prices in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, doubled between 2009 and 2016 and prices across the rest of the country followed close behind. "A typical New Zealand city looks a lot like a typical US city," Gray said. There are three models of housing construction in US cities right now, Gray said. "In terms of an overall objective, I think bringing down house prices to construction costs is an ultimate sign of housing abundance."

Persons: Upzoning, Jenny Schuetz, Matthew Maltman, who's, Ryan Greenaway, Guo Lei, Maltman, There's, Auckland's upzoning, Vicki Been, Bill de Blasio, Schuetz, Nolan Gray, Gray, let's, Brett Coomer, that's, Allison Zaucha, Freemark, we're, Emily Hamilton, Eliza Relman Organizations: Brookings Institute, Auckland, Economic, University of Auckland, New, National Party, Housing, Economic Development, New Zealand, California YIMBY, Urban Institute, Houston, Montana Republicans, George Mason University Locations: New Zealand, Auckland, Australian, Zealand, Auckland , New, New Zealand's, New York, Europe, California, Zealanders, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, Washington, Portland , Oregon, Montana, California . Utah, Minneapolis, New York City

☆ Austin is copying Houston's playbook for making housing more affordable
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Demand for housing in Austin, Texas has outstripped even its relatively rapid housing production. Austin's upzoning measures are designed to incentivize "gentle density" — also known as infill housing or missing-middle housing. And even if you don't care about housing policy, you are feeling this in a very intimate way." Aerial view of neighborhood outside of Austin Texas. Most recently, Dallas city Council member Chad West is leading the charge to consider cutting minimum lot sizes in his city.

Persons: Austin, Jenny Schuetz, They've, Schuetz, Emily Hamilton, Nicole Nabulsi Nosek, Greg Anderson, there's, Joe Sohm, Anderson, Nosek, Chad West Organizations: Service, Apple, Brookings Institute, George Mason University, Reasonable, Austin Habitat, Humanity, Chad Locations: Austin , Texas, Texas, Wall, Silicon, Austin, Houston, Austin Texas, California, Dallas

☆ Why it's so hard to build homes in your neighborhood
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Single-family homes in Arlington, Massachusetts. Around 75% of residential land in the United States is zoned for single-family homes only. This has had the effect of encouraging ever-larger single-family homes and limiting housing options, like smaller houses. “You can’t just do it all with zoning reform,” Walla Walla City Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain told CNN. The second wave of single-family zoning laws spread during the 1970s, historians say, and the policies became more restrictive.

Persons: Suzanne Kreiter, ”, Jenny Schuetz, “, —, Ben McCanna, Joe Biden’s, Richard Kahlenberg, Kathy Hochul’s, Elizabeth Chamberlain, “ It’s, Nancy Kaye, William Fischel, Fischel, Carlos Avila Gonzalez, Yonah Freemark, we’re, ” Freemark Organizations: New, New York CNN, Boston Globe, Brookings Metro, Republicans, Portland Press Herald, Getty Images, ”, CNN, Homes, “, Dartmouth University, Homeowners, San Francisco Chronicle, AP, Pew Charitable Locations: New York, Arlington , Massachusetts, United States, “, Maine, Getty Images Minneapolis, Arlington , Gainesville, Charlotte, Walla Walla , Washington, Oregon , California, Washington , Montana, Connecticut , Arizona, ” Walla Walla City, Cities, Louisville , Kentucky, Flushing , Queens, America, San Francisco, Los Angeles , New York City, Seattle, Chicago , Philadelphia, Portland, Washington, Walnut Creek , California, Minneapolis, Portland , New Rochelle , New York, , Virginia, Towns, Walla, Walla Walla

☆ Why Everyone Is Moving to Florida: Jobs, Economy, Cost of Living, Taxes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

For other states to compete, they will need to pay attention to what Florida is doing right. Floridians pay no income tax and fewer taxes overall than people in states like New York, California, or Massachusetts. But a low tax rate isn't the only thing people care about. Despite having a budget half the size of New York's and a larger population, Florida, by many metrics, is able to do significantly more with the taxes it collects. Florida is also outshining New York and other major population centers in tackling the soaring cost of housing.

☆ Remote Work Is Gutting Downtowns, Will Cost Cities $453 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Even 2 1/2 years later, most city downtowns aren't back to where they were prepandemic. Without more-robust policies to address failing downtowns, cities are going to start hurting. The increased cancellations of office leases have cratered the office real-estate market. Since 2016, only 112 commercial office spaces in the US have been converted, while 85 projects are underway or have been announced, according to CBRE's data. The birth of the central social districtTo avoid a commercial real-estate apocalypse, cities will need to streamline conversions.

☆ Investors are slashing down the odds of a 75-basis-point rate hike in December and beyond as the Fed hints at smaller increases
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Investors on Friday pulled down expectations the Federal Reserve will issue another rate hike of 75 basis points in December and beyond. The probability of another jumbo-sized rate hike at the end of the year fell to 45% from 75% on Thursday. The moves were sparked after a report from the Wall Street Journal and comments by Fed official Mary Daly. The probability of a rate increase of 50 basis points in December, meanwhile, rose to 51.8% from 24.2% on Thursday. Looking ahead into the first meeting of 2023, the odds of a rate hike of 75 basis points fell to 13.7% from 38.2% a day earlier.

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