Herman Mashaba, South African entrepreneur, politician, and Mayor of Johannesburg is advocating for loosening of zoning.
1. This week at Market Urbansim:
America’s Progressive Developers–The Uptown Gateway Council by Scott Beyer
San Diego, too, may be subject to this downzoning trend. Like California’s other destination cities, San Diego has both a fast-growing population, and restrictive land-use regulations that keep housing supply from meeting demand. But rather than reforming their laws in a progressive direction, they’re doing the opposite.
The Psychological Consequences Of Rent Control by Sandy Ikeda
Fewer cities today practice the sort of rent control Hayek wrote about in the mid-twentieth century. But government meddling in housing continues in the United States and elsewhere. America’s political leaders are fond of proclaiming a citizen’s “right to housing,” the manifestations of which have been Fannie Mae, politically driven subprime lending, and (at times) expansionary Federal Reserve policy. The macroeconomic results have been obvious and disastrous. But let’s not forget Hayek’s “micro-social” consequences.
2. MU Elsewhere
On November 29, Emily Hamilton will debate urban housing issues with Randal O’Toole of the Cato Institute and Gerrit Knaap of the National Center for Smart Growth in Washington, DC (event details)
3. Where’s Scott?
Scott Beyer completed his first full week in Los Angeles. He will spend Thanksgiving weekend studying in nearby Riverside, one of California’s fastest growing metros. Much of the growth within this Inland Empire region results from poorer people getting priced out of L.A. and San Diego.
4. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group:
Lyman Stone wrote “Appalachia is Dying. Pikeville is Not. Deep in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains, a Small City Finds Success“
Michael Lewyn wants a YIMBY conference in NYC
Tobias Cassandra Holbrook is curious about the impact of charter schools on urbanism
via Asher Meyers, “A leading light of market urbanism? Herman Mashaba – the new mayor of Johannnesburg.”
via Chris Kaz Wojtewicz, Does infrastructure investment lead to economic growth or economic fragility? Evidence from China (Bent Flyvbjerg)
via Jon Coppage: Helping Struggling Places
via Krishan Madan, “Trump is blowback for the rent seeking regressive policies pushed for by politicians and their donors, which fall on the poor. Zoning, licensing, scope of practice, wars” (by Laura Foote Clark)
via Krishan Madan: SF supervisors reject development because it didn’t have gentrification study
via Len Conly: Teslas in the Trailer Park: A California City Faces Its Housing Squeeze
via Wes Sternberg: Housing: Part 187 – The solution to our problems is urban
5. Elsewhere
While few were looking during the election, several California cities voted in rent control
A roundup of other California land-use ballot measures. The big loser: NIMBYs
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti tells CNN he won’t follow Trump’s deportation mandates
6. Stephen Smith‘s tweet of the week:
Johannesburg’s new libertarian mayor, Herman Mashaba, is a market urbanist: https://t.co/FrAJ23sg1a pic.twitter.com/9WQUnMoo0N
— Market Urbanism (@MarketUrbanism) November 13, 2016
