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Full-Text Articles in Urban Studies and Planning
Midat Sodom And The Housing Affordability Crisis, Michael Lewyn
Midat Sodom And The Housing Affordability Crisis, Michael Lewyn
Michael E Lewyn
Ancient Jewish texts states that the city of Sodom was overthrown because of its hostility to hospitality. Today, American cities often limit new housing; is this policy analogous to midat Sodom (Hebrew for "the ways of Sodom")? What arguments justify these policies, and what counter-arguments are relevant to those arguments?
Planetizen Blog Posts- First Half Of 2019, Michael Lewyn
Planetizen Blog Posts- First Half Of 2019, Michael Lewyn
Michael E Lewyn
Op-ed length articles on various land use-related issues.
Market Urbanism Blog Posts - First Half Of 2019, Michael Lewyn
Market Urbanism Blog Posts - First Half Of 2019, Michael Lewyn
Michael E Lewyn
Blog posts on urban issues, mostly related to housing costs.
Do You Believe In Ghost Apartments?, Michael Lewyn
Do You Believe In Ghost Apartments?, Michael Lewyn
Michael E Lewyn
According to the popular press, expensive cities are being overrun by "ghost apartments"- condominiums owned by wealthy foreigners, but used as investments rather than being rented out to local residents. This article points out that such apartments are in fact a very small percentage of housing supply, even in some cities that are supposedly overran with such condos.
More importantly, the existence of new “ghost apartments” does not justify exclusionary zoning policies. If a city popular with foreign investors discourages construction of new housing, investors are likely to purchase older housing units, outbidding local residents for those units. In this …