HOUSING SOLUTIONS
A Western Matters Topic
Imagine working countless hours only to be priced out of your own neighborhood. Home prices in the Western US have soared by 40% in the past five years, outpacing wage growth by a staggering 25%. It's a crisis which affects us all.
KEY WESTERN PLANNER ARTICLES
Beginning in 2014, fast-rising rents and home prices in Boulder fueled a city-led communitywide housing conversation, Housing Boulder. As part of this conversation, cooperative housing was proposed as a tool to expand housing choice. Unlike elsewhere, the definition of cooperative housing in Boulder isn’t solely resident shareholders in a corporation that owns a building. It is a group living arrangement with consensus governance and shared responsibility and resources. by Crystal Launder and Sloane Walbert, AICP
Planners can respond to a lack of affordable housing by leveraging the regulatory and institutional tools at their disposal. This article will highlight a few tools and strategies within a framework of three “levers” of affordability: facilitate the development of income-restricted affordable housing; mitigate residential displacement; and encourage expansion of overall housing supply. by Jamin Kimmell and Catherine Corliss, AICP
Nothing in the current housing discussion has created the same stir like the tiny house movement and Spearfish, South Dakota has wrestled with trying to understand where this option fits into the menu of choices for housing in the city. The bottom line is that although they are not for everyone, the people who seek the tiny house lifestyle need the same amount of help and assistance to realize their dream as those who are building traditionally constructed homes. by Jayna Watson, AICP
Columnist Bill Detweiler examines how rapid growth as led to newer planned developments being perceived as dense, compact housing in Castle Rock, Colorado. by Bill Detweiler in September/October 2016
Redevelopment of mobile home parks can cause challenges if the residents cannot afford to move or find affordable replacement housing. by Shelby Sommer in collaboration with Don Elliott, Ken Waido, and Ishbel Dickens