Upzone the coastal elites
@aboutdave.bsky.social
Patent attorney, astrophysicist, & Stack-and-Packist 🏙️🥑🔋⛷️. Ready to help enforce state housing law.
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
We have to turn the Growth Machine back on until median rent is less than 30% of median monthly income and median home prices are below 4x median annual household income.
amusing chart. it turns out New York City built more housing units in the 1920s than in the 1970s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 2010s put together www.nyc.gov/content/plan...
November 12, 2025 at 5:15 PM
We have to turn the Growth Machine back on until median rent is less than 30% of median monthly income and median home prices are below 4x median annual household income.
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
new-ish working paper on Los Angeles' mansion tax argues that the revenue estimates are severely overstated.
the paper argues that somewhere between 2/3 and *all* the direct revenue generated by the tax is offset by tax decreasing transaction volume.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
the paper argues that somewhere between 2/3 and *all* the direct revenue generated by the tax is offset by tax decreasing transaction volume.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 12, 2025 at 2:29 AM
new-ish working paper on Los Angeles' mansion tax argues that the revenue estimates are severely overstated.
the paper argues that somewhere between 2/3 and *all* the direct revenue generated by the tax is offset by tax decreasing transaction volume.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
the paper argues that somewhere between 2/3 and *all* the direct revenue generated by the tax is offset by tax decreasing transaction volume.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
I don't care about pickleball, as long as we stop pretending that housing and people themselves are ever legitimate targets of zoning.
www.meyersnave.com/ca-supreme-c...
www.meyersnave.com/ca-supreme-c...
November 11, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I don't care about pickleball, as long as we stop pretending that housing and people themselves are ever legitimate targets of zoning.
www.meyersnave.com/ca-supreme-c...
www.meyersnave.com/ca-supreme-c...
Yeah, the crank candidates are trying to mobilize against a minor revision to landmarkings as if it were a threat to basic human rights.
"Frivolous" is right.
"Frivolous" is right.
November 11, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Yeah, the crank candidates are trying to mobilize against a minor revision to landmarkings as if it were a threat to basic human rights.
"Frivolous" is right.
"Frivolous" is right.
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Good write up. Honestly as someone who reviewed housing elements at HCD, I found that time and again local planners and consultants used sneaky tactics to reduce the feasibility of multifamily housing. I find the insistence on local bottom-up reform to solve the housing crisis hopelessly naive.
I wrote about state-level ADU reform and the differences between @strongtowns.org and YIMBYism. www.maxdubler.com/blog/2025/11...
On The Tension Between YIMBYism and Strong Towns — Max Dubler
Special thanks to those who gave their thoughtful feedback on this piece. The past couple of months have seen quite a bit of Discourse about the differences between Strong Towns and YIMB...
www.maxdubler.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Good write up. Honestly as someone who reviewed housing elements at HCD, I found that time and again local planners and consultants used sneaky tactics to reduce the feasibility of multifamily housing. I find the insistence on local bottom-up reform to solve the housing crisis hopelessly naive.
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Pelosi's announcement video for her state senate run (released on Twitter this morning) mentions absolutely nothing about cost of living or affordability or any major California-centric issues. Off to a great start!
Days after Representative Nancy Pelosi announced her retirement from Congress, her daughter Christine Pelosi said on Monday that she would not seek her mother’s seat and would run instead for the California State Senate. nyti.ms/4oEDaNI
Christine Pelosi Will Not Run for Nancy Pelosi’s House Seat
Christine Pelosi, a Democratic activist, announced that she will run instead for a California State Senate seat, ending speculation that she would try to succeed Nancy Pelosi in the U.S. House.
nyti.ms
November 10, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Pelosi's announcement video for her state senate run (released on Twitter this morning) mentions absolutely nothing about cost of living or affordability or any major California-centric issues. Off to a great start!
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
An extremely high marginal tax rate on production of a socially desirable thing that there's a broad shortage of, no matter how that tax is spent, seems like... extremely bad policy with a huge deadweight loss
In 2018, then-Mayor Ada Colau called Barcelona’s new 30% inclusionary housing requirement for projects over 600m^2 a “paradigm shift,” making housing “a right and not a commodity.” It was supposed to produce 330 affordable units a year. The reality: just 31 affordable apartments in all these years.
Cuando se ha aprobó esta medida dije repetidamente que iba a ser un fracaso y que no construirían nada de vivienda asequible. Se ha probado en mil sitios y no funciona.
Acerté. www.lavanguardia.com/local/barcel...
Acerté. www.lavanguardia.com/local/barcel...
November 9, 2025 at 8:01 PM
An extremely high marginal tax rate on production of a socially desirable thing that there's a broad shortage of, no matter how that tax is spent, seems like... extremely bad policy with a huge deadweight loss
"OpenAI might be indirectly contributing to that shortfall. Its workers are reportedly driving up demand."
Employers are not responsible for the housing shortage. Cities control zoning, not employers.
www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco...
Employers are not responsible for the housing shortage. Cities control zoning, not employers.
www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco...
Sam Altman says funding affordable housing would be too expensive for OpenAI - San Francisco Business Times
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Warriors coach Steve Kerr weighed in on housing, wealth inequality and San Francisco during a live event hosted by Manny's Café.
www.bizjournals.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM
"OpenAI might be indirectly contributing to that shortfall. Its workers are reportedly driving up demand."
Employers are not responsible for the housing shortage. Cities control zoning, not employers.
www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco...
Employers are not responsible for the housing shortage. Cities control zoning, not employers.
www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco...
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Can’t believe Nithya Raman is trying to change LA’s rent control to limit rent increases to 60% of CPI. Awful policy.
November 8, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Can’t believe Nithya Raman is trying to change LA’s rent control to limit rent increases to 60% of CPI. Awful policy.
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
There's also my twist on @alfredtwu.com 's art:
November 7, 2025 at 6:15 PM
There's also my twist on @alfredtwu.com 's art:
Nextdoor NIMBYs claiming that the Berkeley city council is secretly plotting to end all street fairs on Telegraph because of "safety restrictions regarding building height and street width."
November 8, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Nextdoor NIMBYs claiming that the Berkeley city council is secretly plotting to end all street fairs on Telegraph because of "safety restrictions regarding building height and street width."
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
For those new to Housing Discourse, in 2020 Robert Reich notoriously wrote a letter in support of designating a junky old house on his block as an historic landmark to block its redevelopment as townhouses.
November 6, 2025 at 6:32 PM
For those new to Housing Discourse, in 2020 Robert Reich notoriously wrote a letter in support of designating a junky old house on his block as an historic landmark to block its redevelopment as townhouses.
Out walking the dog. The FedEx guy recognizes me, and asks why I yell at people who park on the sidewalk.
I respond calmly: because it's illegal and that building has a parking lot.
FedEx: you're weird.
Ok bye!
(Yeah, glad it stuck with him, maybe he'll even learn someday. Maybe.)
I respond calmly: because it's illegal and that building has a parking lot.
FedEx: you're weird.
Ok bye!
(Yeah, glad it stuck with him, maybe he'll even learn someday. Maybe.)
November 6, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Out walking the dog. The FedEx guy recognizes me, and asks why I yell at people who park on the sidewalk.
I respond calmly: because it's illegal and that building has a parking lot.
FedEx: you're weird.
Ok bye!
(Yeah, glad it stuck with him, maybe he'll even learn someday. Maybe.)
I respond calmly: because it's illegal and that building has a parking lot.
FedEx: you're weird.
Ok bye!
(Yeah, glad it stuck with him, maybe he'll even learn someday. Maybe.)
Berkeley peeps probably know this, but the NIMBYs are organizing around Corridors upzoning.
November 6, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Berkeley peeps probably know this, but the NIMBYs are organizing around Corridors upzoning.
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Thank you, Madam Speaker. In 1987, I was a closeted teenager terrified of a world that seemed determined to eliminate gay people. You used your platform in Congress to fight AIDS — to fight for people like me.
1/2
1/2
November 6, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Thank you, Madam Speaker. In 1987, I was a closeted teenager terrified of a world that seemed determined to eliminate gay people. You used your platform in Congress to fight AIDS — to fight for people like me.
1/2
1/2
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
nexus studies are such bullshit
November 5, 2025 at 10:15 PM
nexus studies are such bullshit
"we can't fund infrastructure without extra taxes on growth" immediately followed by "we should only have public development that pays nothing in property taxes."
Walks like a left NIMBY duck, sounds like a left NIMBY duck.
Walks like a left NIMBY duck, sounds like a left NIMBY duck.
Of course prop taxes don't keep up with costs if they lag inflation growth year after year. That's why growth was the means by which CA cities tried to finance themselves. Nexus studies aren't an SF thing but a CA thing as a P13 workaround. As for fixes, I happen to think P13 reform, a public dev
November 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
"we can't fund infrastructure without extra taxes on growth" immediately followed by "we should only have public development that pays nothing in property taxes."
Walks like a left NIMBY duck, sounds like a left NIMBY duck.
Walks like a left NIMBY duck, sounds like a left NIMBY duck.
It does suck that SF politics don't seem ready to embrace the higher density necessary to fund the super taxes on new housing (so called "affordability mandates" that are counterproductive to overall affordability).
Note too that the “bolder rezoning plan” SF YIMBY is demanding is not actually more density, but just less affordability and less funding for affordable housing and public services. It’s a pivot to austerity.
(from: www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/f...)
(from: www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/f...)
November 4, 2025 at 11:42 PM
It does suck that SF politics don't seem ready to embrace the higher density necessary to fund the super taxes on new housing (so called "affordability mandates" that are counterproductive to overall affordability).
The "local parking mogul" who owns the land.
The Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
sogoreate-landtrust.org/2025/10/13/h...
The Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
sogoreate-landtrust.org/2025/10/13/h...
November 4, 2025 at 7:41 PM
The "local parking mogul" who owns the land.
The Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
sogoreate-landtrust.org/2025/10/13/h...
The Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
sogoreate-landtrust.org/2025/10/13/h...
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
The average impact fee on a multifamily unit in California is $21,703, nearly triple the national average of $8,034. cayimby.org/reports/the-...
The Impact of Fees: Rethinking Local Revenues for More Multifamily Housing - California YIMBY
Dive into in-depth research reports commissioned by the California YIMBY Education Fund on on housing policy, advocacy, and legislation.
cayimby.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:35 PM
The average impact fee on a multifamily unit in California is $21,703, nearly triple the national average of $8,034. cayimby.org/reports/the-...
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Construction has STARTED!
This 2 unit fee simple subdivision is the FIRST all-new development the City of Berkeley has approved under SB 684 🏘️
We used 100% the underlying R-2 Zoning to qualify for state law that reduces most lot requirements… ⬇️
This 2 unit fee simple subdivision is the FIRST all-new development the City of Berkeley has approved under SB 684 🏘️
We used 100% the underlying R-2 Zoning to qualify for state law that reduces most lot requirements… ⬇️
November 4, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Construction has STARTED!
This 2 unit fee simple subdivision is the FIRST all-new development the City of Berkeley has approved under SB 684 🏘️
We used 100% the underlying R-2 Zoning to qualify for state law that reduces most lot requirements… ⬇️
This 2 unit fee simple subdivision is the FIRST all-new development the City of Berkeley has approved under SB 684 🏘️
We used 100% the underlying R-2 Zoning to qualify for state law that reduces most lot requirements… ⬇️
Interesting part of sb684, streamlining for small infill.
The 60 day shot clock starts from the submission/receipt of a complete application, not the date a jurisdiction determines completeness (30 day PSA shot clock for that)
So a city that takes time in PSA completeness review may hurt itself
The 60 day shot clock starts from the submission/receipt of a complete application, not the date a jurisdiction determines completeness (30 day PSA shot clock for that)
So a city that takes time in PSA completeness review may hurt itself
Curious why it took 4 months when the law requires 60 days.
Deemed incomplete?
And noting that the 60 days of sb684 is measured from submission of complete application, not date determined complete under PSA.
Deemed incomplete?
And noting that the 60 days of sb684 is measured from submission of complete application, not date determined complete under PSA.
November 4, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Interesting part of sb684, streamlining for small infill.
The 60 day shot clock starts from the submission/receipt of a complete application, not the date a jurisdiction determines completeness (30 day PSA shot clock for that)
So a city that takes time in PSA completeness review may hurt itself
The 60 day shot clock starts from the submission/receipt of a complete application, not the date a jurisdiction determines completeness (30 day PSA shot clock for that)
So a city that takes time in PSA completeness review may hurt itself
Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Developer now saying they reduced the housing unit count in order to "scale to the neighborhood"
BOOOOOOOOO
You are HAA protected, stop doing this!
BOOOOOOOOO
You are HAA protected, stop doing this!
November 4, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Developer now saying they reduced the housing unit count in order to "scale to the neighborhood"
BOOOOOOOOO
You are HAA protected, stop doing this!
BOOOOOOOOO
You are HAA protected, stop doing this!
Prohibitions on surcharges to SNAP recipients is a legal regulation minimally designed to protect an important government interest.
Prohibitions on discounts to SNAP recipients is not. Instead, and especially in the current context, it's a blatantly unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.
Prohibitions on discounts to SNAP recipients is not. Instead, and especially in the current context, it's a blatantly unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.
To deepen the pain, the USDA could give a blanket exemption for grocery discounts for SNAP recipients. But it won't.
SNAP update: USDA tells grocery stores not to give discounts to customers
The USDA told grocery stores not to give SNAP recipients special discounts as benefits remain unpaid amid the government shutdown.
www.newsweek.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Prohibitions on surcharges to SNAP recipients is a legal regulation minimally designed to protect an important government interest.
Prohibitions on discounts to SNAP recipients is not. Instead, and especially in the current context, it's a blatantly unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.
Prohibitions on discounts to SNAP recipients is not. Instead, and especially in the current context, it's a blatantly unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.