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  • Some Mountain Towns are Eyeing Vancouver-style Vacancy Taxes. Could it Help Address Housing Crises?

    Vancouver’s taxes on vacant residences have reduced the number of empty homes and apartments. The tax on empty homes was levied in an effort to ease the lack of housing, especially affordable housing. The tax has generated money for affordable housing projects in addition to encouraging property owners to rent out their residences. The success of the tax is encouraging other cities to enact similar laws.

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  • The great experiment—Can resident-owned mobile home parks save manufactured housing communities?

    Mobile home owners in Colorado are beginning to own their own communities due in part to legislation that is making it easier to do so. Resident-owned communities preserve the affordable housing stock, which manufactured home communities make up a large percentage of.

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  • House hunting apps giving agents a run for their money

    xPodd is a real-time service that connects tenants to landlords whose listings match their specifications. The app helps prospective tenants navigate Nairobi’s competitive and fast-moving real estate market. Tenants fill out detailed specifications about what they are looking for and xPodd aims to connect them with at least three matching landlords for a small fee. Once matched, they get photos of the houses, their respective GPS locations, and contact information for the landlord. They also receive a number for a xPodd official who can go with prospective tenants to complete the deal.

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  • 9 Potential Solutions to Keep Chicagoans Safer From Fires

    Many cities have experienced tragic deaths in rental apartments, but Chicago's poor record in this realm is compounded by officials' refusal to concede systemic problems. So, to follow up on an earlier report about those problems, reporters compiled a list of nine effective policies and which other cities use them. In each of the areas, Chicago has failed to adopt policies that in other places have made fire safety a priority, starting with routine inspections, effective enforcement of regulations, and licensing and tracking of landlords to more easily spot scofflaws.

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  • Vail Pays Property Owners To Keep Housing For Local Workers. Could It Work In Idaho?

    An affordable housing initiative in Vail, Colorado is paying owners to reserve rentals for those who live in the area year-round, instead of selling to part-time residents. The success of the program is inspiring Ketchum, Idaho, a community on the search for affordable-housing solutions.

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  • Could casitas help prevent displacement in the West's cities?

    Casitas, also known as accessory dwelling units (ADUs), are being legalized and promoted by several western states. Arizona is the latest to legalize ADUs in a bid to ease the shortage of affordable housing. An ADU pilot in Denver is helping moderate-income homeowners build units in rapidly gentrifying areas. They are incentivized to rent these ADUs at affordable rates, providing a benefit to homeowners as well as future renters.

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  • How a Kansas City neighborhood is transforming its dangerous and abandoned buildings

    A neighborhood association is renovating dilapidated and neglected houses into livable homes that have transformed the look and feel of neighborhoods in Kansas City. The Lykins Neighborhood Association is able to assume ownership over houses slated for demolition by using Missouri’s Abandoned Housing act. “The result: A neglected house becomes a livable home.”

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  • The problem fueling the essential housing crisis and how to fix it

    Charlotte's tight housing market can prove unaffordable to young professionals, with high rents equal to half a person's income. The "essential housing" niche, a middle ground between luxury homes and lower-cost "affordable" housing, provides an opportunity to economize on construction costs and pass those savings on to renters. Fewer apartment floor plan options and fancy amenities can translate into rents up to $700 less, a marketing strategy that has given the developer a strong rental business – and its younger customers a relative bargain in an expensive market.

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  • How to make space

    Canadian cities lack the housing supply to keep up with demand and zoning laws are partly to blame. Land is designated specifically for single-family homes, which is the least efficient use of space, generates the lowest tax revenue, and contributes to more traffic and fewer public transportation options. The zoning rules are meant to prevent one problem, overly dense cities and their attendant problems, but its unintended consequence is a market that's priced most people out of it.

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  • The Atlanta BeltLine Wants to Prevent Displacement of Longtime Residents. Is it Too Late?

    The Legacy Resident Retention program is helping longtime homeowners remain in their homes despite rising taxes and property values in Atlanta, Georgia. The program aims to mitigate gentrification and displacement as a result of the Atlanta Beltline development and has helped 21 families by covering the cost of increased property taxes.

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