Friend of the show Daniel Herriges, senior editor at Strong Towns, joins us to talk about some important housing-related stories from 2019 and what lessons they hold for those of us who care about housing equity. 

In this episode, we discuss:

1. An emerging trend of (re)legalizing certain types of missing middle housing in some cities and states.
2. A peculiar story about a mixed-use project in San Bruno, CA, that was eventually killed after three years of concessions—and, more importantly, what it can teach us about the conflicting incentives that our desire to maintain control can create.
3. A fascinating new study on the impact that building new market-rate housing may have on freeing up affordable housing in the same city—and why we should think more ecologically about the ways that cities and housing markets work.

Further reading on the stories we discussed in this episode:

• Making Normal Neighborhoods Legal Again
• Approaching Peak Housing Dysfunction in California
• The Connectedness of Our Housing Ecosystem
• Kevin Bacon & musical chairs: How market rate housing increases affordability
• Additional Dwelling Unit toolkit (City of Boston) – This is one of a number of city-run programs that provide design and financing assistance to residents who want to build an ADU on their property.

You can follow Daniel on Twitter at @DanielStrTowns and read his latest writings on Strong Towns.

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(Music in this episode is from No Money & Tours.)

https://www.verdunity.com/podcast/episode-50