UCLA Housing Voice

Preapproved plan programs promise to speed up permitting and lower the cost of building new homes. How do they work—and are they working? Seva Rodnyansky shares findings from a review of more than 40 existing programs. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Rodnyansky, S., & Su, D. (2026). Preapproved Building Plans Help Cities Improve Housing Affordability. Pew Charitable Trusts. Animated intro for The Irony of Fate , which depicts architects having their building designs rendered increasingly bland and uniform by Soviet bureaucrats. The pattern book for New South Wales, Australia , with plans for buildings up to 216 units! The province-specific housing catalog produced by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Why is exclusionary zoning, which restricts land to expensive single-family houses, so commonplace in the US compared to other countries? Alexander Sahn shares strong evidence that local responses to a wave of migration by Southern Blacks in the middle of the 20th century played a big role. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Sahn, A. (2025). Racial diversity and exclusionary zoning: Evidence from the Great Migration. The Journal of Politics, 87(4), 1302-1318. Boustan, L. P. (2007). Black migration, white flight: the effect of black migration on northern cities and labor markets. The Journal of Economic History, 67(2), 484-488. Derenoncourt, E. (2022). Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration. American Economic Review, 112(2), 369-408. Grant, K. N. (2014). Relocation and Realignment: How the Great Migration Changed the Face of the Democratic Party. Syracuse University. Cui, T. (2024). Did race fence off the American city? The great migration and the evolution of exclusionary zoning [working paper]. Gallagher, R., Shertzer, A., & Twinam, T. (2026). Zoning and the American Suburb (No. 26-37). Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Lens, M. C. (2024). Where the hood at?: Fifty years of change in black neighborhoods. Russell Sage Foundation. Episode 23 of UCLA Housing Voice, on political representation and housing supply with Michael Hankinson.

This episode features clips from a few episodes of Michael Andersen's one-shot podcast series, YIMBY Country: "A podcast mini-series about what happens after you legalize housing. In this case, in New Zealand." Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Listen to YIMBY Country on Apple Podcasts and Spotify . Episode 45 of UCLA Housing Voice: What Happened When Auckland Upzoned Everywhere with Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy. Episode 81 of UCLA Housing Voice: How New Zealand Passed Its Ambitious Zoning Reforms with Eleanor West. Part 1 of the New Zealand Initiative's three-part series.

When cities adopt exclusionary zoning, their housing stock becomes scarcer and less affordable over time. Matt Mleczko shares research suggesting that the impacts extend beyond exclusionary jurisdictions’ borders, hurting poor communities that have no say over their neighbors’ land use policies. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Mleczko, M. (2026). The Cumulative Exposure to Exclusionary Zoning in Impoverished Neighborhoods. Demography, 63(1), 213-239. The National Zoning and Land Use Database. Jones, P. (2010). The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee. Harvard University Press. Wikipedia page on ‘Sewer Socialism,’ a movement that started in Milwaukee. Perry, E. M. (2017). Live and Let Live: Diversity, Conflict, and Community in an Integrated Neighborhood. University of North Carolina Press. Fischel, W. A. (2015). Zoning Rules! The Economics of Land Use Regulation. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Goetz, E. G., Damiano, A., & Williams, R. A. (2019). Racially concentrated areas of affluence. Cityscape, 21(1), 99-124. Taylor, K. (2019). Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership. University of North Carolina Press. Connolly, B., & Kazis, N. (2026). Rezoning the Rust Belt [working paper]. SSRN.

Supply skeptics don’t believe that building more homes improves affordability. Vicki Been tells us what the latest research says about their main arguments. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Been, V., Ellen, I. G., & O’Regan, K. (2025). Supply skepticism revisited. Housing Policy Debate, 35(1), 96-113. Been, V., Ellen, I. G., & O’Regan, K. (2019). Supply skepticism: Housing supply and affordability. Housing Policy Debate, 29(1), 25-40. Fang, L., Kim, E., & Tyndall, J. (2025). The downmarket impact of new multifamily housing: Evidence from a Honolulu condo tower. Real Estate Economics. Grabar, H. (2026). High-End Construction Really Does Help Everyone. The Atlantic. Shane’s Substack post on the share of households living in recently-built housing who come from the same/different metro area or from within 50 or 100 miles of their new home. Pew Charitable Trusts Youtube video: “Building More Housing Creates 'Moving Chains' of Affordability”. Rollet, V. (2025). Can We Rebuild a City? The Dynamics of Urban Redevelopment [working paper]. Giacoletti, M., Korevaar, M., & Qian, F. (2025). How Housing Supply Expansions Reshape Cities [working paper]. Furman Center Land Use Reform Tracker. Soltas, E., & Gruber, J. (2026). How Costly Is Permitting in Housing Development? [working paper].

Transit agencies are using microtransit services to increase the reach and access of their overall service. We talk with Mike Hyland about how agencies can think about pricing and fleet sizing to balance cost and service. Also, how should agencies measure the overall success of their microtransit services? Show notes: Hyland, M., Saha, R., & Hu, S. (2026). Peak Pricing and Transfer Discounts Can Make Microtransit More Efficient. UC Office of the President: University of California Institute of Transportation Studies . http://dx.doi.org/10.7922/G2HT2MPD Saha, Ritun and Hu, Siwei and Hyland, Michael, Optimal Fare Policy and Fleet Sizing for an Integrated Fixed-Route Transit and Microtransit System (August 02, 2025). Available at SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5382012 Hyland, M., Watkins, K., Shaheen, S., & Martin, E. (2026). What Should Agencies Measure to Decide If Microtransit Is Working? UC Office of the President: University of California Institute of Transportation Studies . http://dx.doi.org/10.7922/G2ZW1JBF Hyland, M. F; Pike, S.; Hu, S.; Berkel, J.; Xing, Y.; Saha, R., et al. (2024). Integrating Microtransit Service with Traditional Fixed-Route Transit Costs More but Greatly Improves Access to Jobs. UC Office of the President: University of California Institute of Transportation Studies . http://dx.doi.org/10.7922/G2TH8K2W Slosky, J., Silver, F., Schuchard, J., Schuchard, R., and Welsh, D. (2022) Microtransit definitions, trends, and applications. Calstart https://calstart.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CALSTART-Microtransit-Overview.pdf Miriam Pinski, Anne Brown, Nicholas Perloff-Giles (2026). Is microtransit a cost-effective alternative or a costly competitor to public transit?, Cities,Volume 169, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.106490 .

Does building housing near rail stations reduce driving, even if it prices out lower-income residents? Dan Chatman's research suggests the answer hinges not on who lives there, but on how much housing gets built. Chatman, D. G., Xu, R., Park, J., & Spevack, A. (2019). Does Transit-Oriented Gentrification Increase Driving? Journal of Planning Education and Research, 39(4), 482-495. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0739456X19872255 Chatman, Dan (2015) Does Transit-Oriented Development Need the Transit? Access Magazine. https://accessmagazine.org/fall-2015/does-transit-oriented-development-need-the-transit/ Chatman, D. G., Rodynansky, S., Boarnet, M., Comandon, A., Snyder, B., Patel, K., & Atkins, J. (2025). Assessing the Quantification Methodology for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/99j4s0bp

Part 3 of our book club series on Yoni Appelbaum's 'Stuck', covering chapters 9–10. Appelbaum himself joins us to wrap up the series. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Appelbaum, Y. (2025). Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity . Penguin Random House. UCLA Housing Voice episode 112: ‘Stuck’ Book Club pt. 1 with Attorney General Rob Bonta. UCLA Housing Voice episode 114: ‘Stuck’ Book Club pt. 2 with Giselle Hale. Sahn, A. (2025). Racial diversity and exclusionary zoning: Evidence from the great migration. The Journal of Politics, 87(4), 1302-1318. Reny, T. T., & Newman, B. J. (2018). Protecting the right to discriminate: the second great migration and racial threat in the American West. American Political Science Review, 112(4), 1104-1110. The Ezra Klein Show: What We Got Right — and Wrong — in ‘Abundance’ ( YouTube ) ( Apple Podcasts ) Stephanie Nakhleh’s chapter-by-chapter review of Stuck (part 1). Books: Leah Boustan, Streets of Gold Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Why Nothing Works, Marc Dunkelman Public Citizens, Paul Sabin Urban Fortunes, John Logan and Harvey Molotch

California created a definition for major transit stops in state code and ties this definition to a lot of housing policies. Jacob Wasserman and Aaron Barrall explore the different ways this definition could be interpreted and how different approaches could mean more or less land available for increased development. Show notes: Wasserman, J.L., Barrall, A., Millard-Ball, A., and Lee, A. (2026) “Stop” and Think about it: How the Different Interpretations of What Counts as a “Major Transit Stop” in California Make a Difference https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/41f86455a03a494c9a7b55e15bba1e8b Wasserman, J.L., Barrall, A., Millard-Ball, A., and Lee, A. (2026) Technical Appendix: Mapping High-Quality Transit https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7g41v63n#supplemental City of Burbank BRT concerns relating to designating areas for higher residential densities around transit stops pursuant to CA Senate Bill 79 https://granicus-aasmp-peak-files.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/4116669/SR_-_BRT_and_SB_79_Update.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIATHOFOHMMEOCNXD2W%2F20260529%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260529T164040Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=a8fc425c4d77c31d5e9a46f90f029703bf03e4b558acdf02ec190f6269f9320b

Part 2 of our book club series on Yoni Appelbaum's 'Stuck', covering chapters 5–8. Giselle Hale joins us for the walkthrough, sharing her perspective as a former mayor and part of the Abundance movement. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Appelbaum, Y. (2025). Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity . Penguin Random House. Sightline Institute’s Cruel Musical Chairs explainer video , plus its infographic version . Justine Underhill’s YouTube page. Episode 15 of UCLA Housing Voice: The Legacy of Redlining with Jacob Faber. Episode 43 of UCLA Housing Voice: Reexamining Redlining with Todd Michney. University of Richmond’s Mapping Inequality interactive redlining map. Books: The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee The Affordable City, Shane Phillips The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson

California passed a landmark law in 2022 prohibiting cities from mandating minimum parking requirements near major transit stops. Amy Lee explores how cities and developers have responded. Show Notes Lee, A., Millard-Ball, A., & Manville, M. (2025). State Preemption in Theory and Practice: The Case of Parking Requirements. Urban Affairs Review , 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/10780874251385240 Abstract: In U.S. law, states can override actions of local governments that contravene state interests. In practice, preemptions are often more ambiguous nudges, and local responses can vary by interpretation and interests. This paper explores one such case of state preemption: California’s 2022 law that limited local governments’ ability to require automobile parking. The authors find that the law’s complexity and ambiguity created intense debates about interpretations, in all jurisdictions, leading to heterogeneous implementation across cities. Local interests also motivated strategic responses to the law, which the authors present in a threefold taxonomy: cities interested in parking reform used it as a springboard; cities interested in parking reform but facing local resistance used it as a protective shield; recalcitrant cities treated it as an obstacle or subverted the law. California AB 2097 (2022): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2097 City of Sacramento History of Parking Mandates Memo https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/content/dam/portal/cdd/Planning/parking-revisions/A-Short-History-of-Sacramentos-Parking-Mandates.pdf HCD AB 2097 Technical Advisory: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/sites/default/files/docs/policy-and-research/ab-2097-ta.pdf UCLA Center for Parking Policy https://its.ucla.edu/programs/parking-center/

We're doing a three-part book club series on Yoni Appelbaum's 'Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity.' This is episode one, covering chapters 1 through 4. In the second half of the show, California Attorney General Rob Bonta joins us to talk about connections between the book's themes and his work enforcing housing and immigration law. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Appelbaum, Y. (2025). Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity . Penguin Random House. Stan’s substack, Everyone is Welcome. Housing Voice episode 61: Homelessness is a Housing Problem with Gregg Colburn. Housing Voice episode 101: Beyond Zoning with John Zeanah and Andre D. Jones (Incentives Series pt. 4). 99% Invisible Breakdown of the Power Broker. Elmendorf, C. S., Nall, C., & Oklobdzija, S. (2025). The folk economics of housing. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 39(3), 45-66. Housing Voice episode 38: The Housing Supply–Migration–Income Relationship with Peter Ganong. Books: The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs The Economy of Cities, Jane Jacobs The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson Golden Gates, Conor Dougherty Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Why Nothing Works, Marc Dunkelman Public Citizens, Paul Sabin Albion’s Seed, David Hackett Fischer The Jungle, Upton Sinclair Polarized by Degrees, Matt Grossman and David Hopkins

We close out the Incentives Series with Lars Doucet offering a primer on land value taxes, the ultimate incentive-aligned housing policy. This is part 11 of our series on misaligned incentives in housing policy. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Doucet, L. (2025). Land value return is needed, pragmatic, and achievable. Progress and Poverty [Substack]. Doucet, L. (2025). Enacting Land Value Return in Your Hometown. Progress and Poverty [Substack]. Doucet, L. (2025). So You Want to Abolish Property Taxes. Progress and Poverty [Substack]. Doucet, L. (2025). Mass Appraisal For The Masses: The Basics. Progress and Poverty [Substack].

We're joined by our co-authors to discuss a few Lewis Center studies on Measure ULA, a transfer tax in the city of Los Angeles, that made a big splash. This is part 10 of our series on misaligned incentives in housing policy. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Manville, M., & Smith, M. (2025). The Unintended Consequences of Measure ULA. UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Ward, J., & Phillips, S. (2025). Taxing Tomorrow: Measure ULA's Impact on Multifamily Housing Production and Potential Reforms. RAND Corporation and UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Green, D., Jambulapati, V., Liebersohn, J., & Velayudhan, T. (2025). Fiscal Externalities of Transaction Taxes: Evidence from the Los Angeles Mansion Tax. Available at SSRN 5273034. Manville, M., Smith, M., & Phillips, S. (2025). The Consequences of Measure ULA: Some Clarifications. UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Shane’s blog post about the BAE report on the impact of a 15-year waiver on the ULA tax for new multifamily and commercial development.

Enterprise Community Partners has been running a renter wealth-building program since 2022. How’s it going? And what comes next? Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Enterprise Community Partners’ Renter Wealth Creation Fund website. The Renter Wealth Creation Fund term sheet. UCLA Housing Voice episode 108: Building Wealth by Renting with Shane Phillips and Bob Simpson. Phillips, S. (2025). Building Renter Wealth: An Evaluation of Shared Prosperity Rental (SPR) Housing Program Design and Feasibility. UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Executive summary for the SPR report.

Joined by a 20-year veteran of Fannie Mae, Shane shares findings from his work on a proposed new model for building renter wealth: shared prosperity rental housing. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Phillips, S. (2025). Building Renter Wealth: An Evaluation of Shared Prosperity Rental (SPR) Housing Program Design and Feasibility. UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Executive summary for the SPR report. Shane’s 2021 article in The Atlantic, “Renting is Terrible, Owning is Worse.” Shane’s blog posts preceding and following the article in The Atlantic. Monkkonen, P., Carlton, I., & Macfarlane, K. (2020). One to four: The market potential of fourplexes in California’s single-family neighborhoods. UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. The Multifamily Impact Council’s Multifamily Impact Framework. Enterprise Community Partners’ Renter Wealth Creation Fund website. Colorado Renter Rewards program website.

Fixed-rate mortgages are expensive, but adjustable-rate mortgages are volatile — but do they have to be? Kevin Erdmann pitches an alternative that captures the best qualities of both. This is part 9 of our series on misaligned incentives in housing policy. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Erdmann, K. (2021). A Suggested Mortgage Amortization Structure: Fixed Amortization, Adjustable Principal. Mercatus Center. UCLA Housing Voice episode 106: Mortgage Lending Standards with Kevin Erdmann.

This is the shortened "highlights" version of episode 106. You can listen to the full interview here . Was the housing market really oversupplied in the mid-2000s? Kevin Erdmann says no, and he explains how this misunderstanding is at the root of present-day affordability problems. This is part 8 of our series on misaligned incentives in housing policy. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Erdmann, K. (2018). Housing Was Undersupplied during the Great Housing Bubble. Mercatus Center. Erdmann, K. (2024). Getting Corporate Money Out of Single-Family Homes Won’t Help the Housing Affordability Crisis. Mercatus Center. Erdmann Housing Tracker: Mortgages Outstanding by Credit Score Erdmann Housing Tracker: Follow-Up: Mortgages by Credit Score Erdmann, K. (2021). A Suggested Mortgage Amortization Structure: Fixed Amortization, Adjustable Principal. Mercatus Center.

Was the housing market really oversupplied in the mid-2000s? Kevin Erdmann says no, and he explains how this misunderstanding is at the root of present-day affordability problems. This is part 8 of our series on misaligned incentives in housing policy. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Erdmann, K. (2018). Housing Was Undersupplied during the Great Housing Bubble. Mercatus Center. Erdmann, K. (2024). Getting Corporate Money Out of Single-Family Homes Won’t Help the Housing Affordability Crisis. Mercatus Center. Erdmann Housing Tracker: Mortgages Outstanding by Credit Score Erdmann Housing Tracker: Follow-Up: Mortgages by Credit Score Erdmann, K. (2021). A Suggested Mortgage Amortization Structure: Fixed Amortization, Adjustable Principal. Mercatus Center.

Shane makes a guest appearance on USC's Lusk Perspectives to talk state housing law, barriers to missing middle housing and condos, managing transportation systems in densifying cities, building wealth for tenants, and more. Read about the Lewis Center's work at lewis.ucla.edu . Follow our Substack at uclahousingvoice.substack.com . Email Shane at at shanephillips@ucla.edu and follow him on Bluesky and LinkedIn . Show notes: Overview of 40 years of California ADU reform by the California Housing Defense Fund. State of Los Angeles County Housing and Neighborhoods. Neighborhood Data for Social Change. Shane’s 2021 article in The Atlantic, “Renting is Terrible, Owning is Worse.” Shane’s blog posts preceding and following the article in The Atlantic. The Lewis Center report on “Shared Prosperity Rental Housing,” published in December 2025 and mentioned at the end of the interview.