Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Closer

Housing’s recession already happened?

A lot of people still expect the U.S. to fall into a recession. But for the housing market, the recession could already be in the rearview mirror. Builders are sounding less downbeat than they were...

Vacant apartments come from bad policy, not a conspiracy

On Halloween, 2022, some elected officials held a performative press conference to talk about “Zombie Apartments.” They claim property owners are engaging in a mass conspiracy to keep rent-stabilized apartments vacant in an attempt...

Our perception of skilled trades needs to change

The U.S. is in the midst of a crisis of masculinity. According to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, men without four-year college degrees, ages 25 to 54, have left...

Fusion wariness

Livermore National Laboratory’s announcement is certainly a breakthrough, but it’s a commercially limited one. Nuclear fusion has long been hailed as the next great energy source, capable of providing nearly limitless power without the...

Money for nothing

In 1985, British rock band Dire Straits complained, “They ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it; Money for nothing and your chicks for free.” The lyrics criticized the excesses of nouveau riche rock...

Can Biden help housing? White House solution isn’t nearly enough.

At one time or another, every politician—local, state, and federal—promises to help create “affordable housing.” The issue has become especially critical of late with rents and housing prices rising and higher interest rates making...

Providers of single-family rental homes are an important part of America’s housing ecosystem

President Biden’s release in May of a “Housing Supply Action Plan” represents a commendable effort to bring much needed quality, affordably-priced housing to communities throughout the country. In taking steps to “ease the burden...
Pruitt-Igoe

The time the federal government built a flawed housing project and tore it down...

On the 50th anniversary of the demolition of  Pruitt-Igoe, it’s nearly impossible to understate the failure of the St. Louis public housing project. Famed architect Minoro Yamasaki, who would go on to design the World...

Corporate greed isn’t driving inflation

Inflation has reached its highest level in nearly 40 years, and everyone is looking for answers. Before fiscal and monetary authorities can muster a policy response, we need to understand what is causing inflation....

The urgency of protecting the electric grid from cyberattacks

Multifamily owners and operators are the single largest dispenser of utilities in the nation. An electric grid failure would be catastrophic for operations and to residents, many of whom currently work from home. The clock...

A small landlord’s cry: Why is the government violating my property rights?

I am a small landlord, and the government has put me and millions of other small landlords through hell for the past 18 months. Politicians always say they support small business, but they rarely...

When Washington bureaucrats hold the reins of power

The Biden administration was in a box in late July. They desperately wanted to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s controversial eviction moratorium. But the judicial writing was on the wall. They...

Property rights versus labor unions in the Supreme Court

As the Supreme Court’s recent Obamacare case illustrates, the justices no longer enforce most of the Constitution’s limits on the federal government. But a new property rights decision demonstrates how they are super-enforcing the...

How deregulating real estate markets can solve America’s shortage of affordable housing

The deregulation of real estate markets doesn’t just make economic sense. It is also a moral imperative. In the early twentieth century, known as the “progressive era,” the United States embarked on a spree of...

What goes wrong when the government interferes with prices

Prices are a fact of life, and so is complaining about them. You probably prefer lower prices on just about everything, but especially when buying a house or paying for college, and you wish...
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