Travis Goedken is the city manager of Decorah, Iowa. He joins Norm to talk about the practices and reforms that are making Decorah strong, including making its budgeting easier to understand for residents and finding creative loopholes in restrictive state housing laws. (Transcript included.)
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What cities have successfully financed housing at the local level? How does tax increment financing work? When should cities stop subsidizing large-scale housing projects? Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn answers all these questions and more in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast. (Transcript included.)
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Denver wants to repeal parking mandates citywide. This will help the city fight the housing crisis by reducing the costs and regulatory hurdles of development.
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Ryan Andrews is the CFO of a small-scale development company and capital fund in Bend, Oregon. In this episode, he discusses the importance of local investment and explains how to channel the profits from housing development back to locals. (Transcript included.)
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For years, housing production has systematically privileged corporate developers while shutting out everyone else. But cities are starting to change that. In Tennessee, this change is taking the form of a new process for preapproved plans.
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Many of incremental development’s values — localism, quality and civic pride — align well with those of houses of worship. If faith communities embrace this model, we could see a wave of faith-based housing that complements the broader movement toward incremental development.
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Many city officials are struggling to provide affordable housing for their communities. In Denver, a group of city officials, community leaders and nonprofit organizations decided to try something different.
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Thriving places are built by the people who live in them, and the strongest reforms are ones that empower these people to shape their own futures. Here are some of the people who are thriving because of their cities' empowering housing policies.
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The Suburban Experiment killed the starter home. Here's how cities can bring it back to life.
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Many people think that increased efficiency and economies of scale in the housing market are the key to affordability. However, these benefits are not actually appearing. We do need innovation, but not in the form of new interest rate manipulations or complex securitization schemes.
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Zoning codes across the country attempt to define what a "family" is, often in ways that are not only outdated but also legally tenuous at best. Instead of pretending we can enforce arbitrary definitions of family, let’s focus on what actually impacts people's lives.
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Just as a fragile ecosystem can wither without the right conditions, our housing system is struggling under the weight of imbalance. But small, intentional shifts can restore stability. The seeds of change are already planted. It’s time to cultivate them.
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When a development project dares to break the Suburban Experiment mold, it faces intense scrutiny from both opponents and advocates. Ironically, these are the very projects we should be studying — and even celebrating. Culdesac Tempe, a car-free community in Arizona, is one such project.
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On January 13, 2025, the city council of Bellingham, Washington, eliminated parking mandates citywide. This decision is a key step in reducing barriers to housing development.
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With office vacancies and housing needs at record highs, converting one into the other seems like an obvious fix. However, office conversions are very difficult and expensive. Cities would get better results by enabling incremental development.
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Back in September, Sacramento became the first city in California to allow multiunit housing in all residential neighborhoods. Here’s what that means for residents seeking housing.
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Chuck is joined by Seth Zeren, a neighborhood real estate developer, to discuss the six code reforms recommended in “The Housing-Ready City: A Toolkit for Local Code Reform.” (Transcript included.)
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Multigenerational living was common before restrictive zoning laws made it illegal to have more than one household in a single-family home. By letting homeowners convert existing houses into duplexes or triplexes, cities can give residents the flexibility to live where they want at a price they can afford.
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Reducing minimum lot sizes can unlock the potential for smaller, more affordable homes while meeting the needs of the community. Here’s how one developer got community support and multiplied housing availability.
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The Finley Street Cottages project in Atlanta, Georgia, shows how parking mandates can prevent desperately needed development — and how removing those mandates makes housing more attainable and affordable.
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