Via an Oregon media outlet, here’s an interesting chart of different US metro areas showing the correlation between “median asking price” and “% growth in housing units.” It comes from an op-ed by an Oregon economist named Timothy Duy. Here you go: In typical supply-and-demand fashion, Duy argues that places that build more housing have […]
Maybe you saw it, maybe you didn’t. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies published an interactive map listing (essentially) the worst place for renting in each state, that is to say, the highest cost place to rent in each state. Guess who scored a big ‘ol fat numero uno for Minnesota. You got it. […]
You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Thought Experiment Zone! A few months back I made the case that Minneapolis’ zoning code keeps us from building the type small-scale infill most people say they want (I’m […]
A belated congratulations to our local soccer team for gaining admission into Major League Soccer. The Minnesota United FC are one of twelve professional sports teams based in the Twin Cities: Minnesota Twins Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Timberwolves Minnesota Wild St. Paul Saints Minnesota Lynx Minnesota Vixen Minnesota Swarm* Minnesota Machine Minnesota United FC** Minnesota Lady […]
Dinkytown: Is it full of chain stores now? We have heard that this is the case. Is this the case? Read on! Methodology It’s hard to measure something like this 100% accurately–for our purposes, we’re looking at commercial storefronts in a five block area of Dinkytown. The actual borders of Dinkytown are a bit vague; […]
Hopkins has been the model of cooperation for the past few years. The city collaborated with Hennepin County on a Shady Oak Road expansion despite harms to longstanding businesses. It accepted the Southwest LRT’s operations and maintenance facility even though the city suffered the biggest hit to tax base of any community along the line. […]
[This is the first in a series of posts about “homelessness”.] I start quite deliberately with the scare quotes above because it is one of my primary objectives here to articulate my discomfort with the way the term “homelessness” is conventionally used. I will argue that it is a crude and inadequately descriptive piece of shorthand that […]
This is part 3 of a series on the interaction between the rental housing market and rents. Read part 1, “How I Set Apartment Rents,” and part 2, “Housing Markets? Humbug!“ I’ve dedicated the last 15 years of my life working on affordable housing policy. Mostly, I’ve worked where some sort of subsidy helps make it (more) affordable. In […]
Last Wednesday night, the Saint Paul City Council approved the city’s first ever bicycle plan in a 6-0 vote. This short video produced by St. Paul Women on Bikes explores bikes and bike infrastructure as an economic development tool in Saint Paul. I think it’s a great video (not at all just because I made it) including some […]
$21 billion is a meaningless number. That’s how much more the 2012 Transportation Finance Advisory Committee estimated Minnesota needs just to maintain all modes in the current system. The total is certainly big, but all government figures are. There are so many billions tossed around in the realm of public finance that voters’ eyes glaze […]