Shane Phillips
@shanedphillips.bsky.social
Housing guy. Researcher at UCLA Lewis Center, host of UCLA Housing Voice Podcast, author of The Affordable City, resident of Los Angeles.
This paragraph brings great joy to my heart. If only we should all be so fortunate.
cc: @resnikoff.bsky.social
cc: @resnikoff.bsky.social
![Screenshot of text from Wikipedia: "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has 14 counties, though eight[1] of these fourteen county governments were abolished between 1997 and 2000. The counties in the southeastern portion of the state retain county-level local government (Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Norfolk, Plymouth) or, in one case, (Nantucket County) consolidated town-county government.[2][3] Vestigial judicial and law enforcement districts still follow county boundaries even in the counties whose county-level government has been disestablished, and the counties are still generally recognized as geographic entities if not political ones.[4] Three counties (Hampshire, Barnstable, and Franklin) have formed new county regional compacts to serve as a form of regional governance."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mcarhragq2bw4wzlu3tdbubf/bafkreiaewustcg2pmyibvmgmj2p4qtpivbtem3cewwhoshxetnrc7lx4ti@jpeg)
October 6, 2025 at 3:35 AM
This paragraph brings great joy to my heart. If only we should all be so fortunate.
cc: @resnikoff.bsky.social
cc: @resnikoff.bsky.social
Tag yourself I'm Mount Whoredom
October 4, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Tag yourself I'm Mount Whoredom
As an example, it *seems* to me that issuing permanent loans is a poor use of limited agency funds (~$200MM for this NOFA). Couldn't banks do this, even if it's a bit more expensive? Wouldn't that money be tied up for decades? But I don't know if these are actually valid concerns.
October 1, 2025 at 3:56 PM
As an example, it *seems* to me that issuing permanent loans is a poor use of limited agency funds (~$200MM for this NOFA). Couldn't banks do this, even if it's a bit more expensive? Wouldn't that money be tied up for decades? But I don't know if these are actually valid concerns.
Having fewer elevators means more people live in multi-story buildings where their only means of accessing their unit is the stairs. That's a disaster for anyone with mobility challenges. Buildings like this one in Spain, which has 3 stories, 54 units, and 9 elevators, are completely unheard of.
September 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Having fewer elevators means more people live in multi-story buildings where their only means of accessing their unit is the stairs. That's a disaster for anyone with mobility challenges. Buildings like this one in Spain, which has 3 stories, 54 units, and 9 elevators, are completely unheard of.
A consequence of high elevator costs is that we include elevators in multi-story buildings much less frequently than other countries. Here's a figure from the report: elevators per 1,000 residents for various countries.
September 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
A consequence of high elevator costs is that we include elevators in multi-story buildings much less frequently than other countries. Here's a figure from the report: elevators per 1,000 residents for various countries.
Why are elevators so expensive in the US and Canada? One reason, at least in the US, is that they're comparatively huge. We also use an entirely different standard than the rest of world, making us a smaller and therefore less competitive market, and we have uniquely unproductive labor practices.
September 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Why are elevators so expensive in the US and Canada? One reason, at least in the US, is that they're comparatively huge. We also use an entirely different standard than the rest of world, making us a smaller and therefore less competitive market, and we have uniquely unproductive labor practices.
LAUSD charges new residential developments a fee of $5.17 per sq ft to fund school (re)construction, so around $3k-10k per unit. Not the biggest fee, but hard to justify amid a housing shortage and declining enrollment. It also raises just ~0.5% of LAUSD revenue. Likely very high cost to benefit.
September 22, 2025 at 6:55 PM
LAUSD charges new residential developments a fee of $5.17 per sq ft to fund school (re)construction, so around $3k-10k per unit. Not the biggest fee, but hard to justify amid a housing shortage and declining enrollment. It also raises just ~0.5% of LAUSD revenue. Likely very high cost to benefit.
The "alternative compliance" referenced in this letter is code for not upzoning wealthy single-family neighborhoods along transit lines, like this one:
September 18, 2025 at 1:52 AM
The "alternative compliance" referenced in this letter is code for not upzoning wealthy single-family neighborhoods along transit lines, like this one:
Looks like the original post was deleted. Here's what it was referencing.
September 18, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Looks like the original post was deleted. Here's what it was referencing.
What happened to Gen Xers? No surprise that their preference for walkable communities over large detached houses with long commutes is weaker than Millennials and Gen Z, but Baby Boomers and the Silent Gen too? Not sure you can blame this on kids either (see second image). From NAR survey, 2023.
September 3, 2025 at 6:22 PM
What happened to Gen Xers? No surprise that their preference for walkable communities over large detached houses with long commutes is weaker than Millennials and Gen Z, but Baby Boomers and the Silent Gen too? Not sure you can blame this on kids either (see second image). From NAR survey, 2023.
It goes without saying that President Trump is not deploying or threatening to deploy the US military within our own borders based on crime rates -- not that that would justify it. If so, he'd be threatening states under Republican control, like Tennessee, Missouri, and Louisiana.
August 31, 2025 at 2:45 AM
It goes without saying that President Trump is not deploying or threatening to deploy the US military within our own borders based on crime rates -- not that that would justify it. If so, he'd be threatening states under Republican control, like Tennessee, Missouri, and Louisiana.
Here's the public comment I wrote opposing this anti-SB 79 resolution. Cowardice is the right word, especially after council opposed similar legislation almost a decade ago and then used that much-vaunted "local control" to turn the housing crisis up to 11. Kudos to the 5 progressives who voted no.
August 19, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Here's the public comment I wrote opposing this anti-SB 79 resolution. Cowardice is the right word, especially after council opposed similar legislation almost a decade ago and then used that much-vaunted "local control" to turn the housing crisis up to 11. Kudos to the 5 progressives who voted no.
This quote is from Lawrence Veiller, an influential progressive reformer in the US, in 1913. Anyone wanna guess what the dwelling unit threshold for shifting from the Residential Code to the more expensive Building Code is today, in 2025?
![Quote from Veiller: "[D]o everything possible in our laws to encourage the construction of private dwellings and even two- family dwellings, because the two-family house is the next least objectionable type, and penalize so far as we can in our statute, the multiple dwelling of any kind... If we require multiple dwellings to be fireproof, and thus increase the cost of construction; if we require stairs to be fireproofed, even where there are only three families; if we require fire escapes and a host of other things, all dealing with fire protection, we are on safe grounds, because that can be justified as a legitimate exercise of the police power... In our laws let most of the fire provisions relate solely to multiple dwellings, and allow our private houses and two-family houses to be built with no fire protection whatever (NHA Proceedings 1913, 212)."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mcarhragq2bw4wzlu3tdbubf/bafkreifuevrucumm4am4sja6p4p4vymzung23ln4ld77ooartrhgxferiu@jpeg)
August 8, 2025 at 11:06 PM
This quote is from Lawrence Veiller, an influential progressive reformer in the US, in 1913. Anyone wanna guess what the dwelling unit threshold for shifting from the Residential Code to the more expensive Building Code is today, in 2025?
Anyone been following this California ballot initiative? It's news to me. It would limit the maximum real estate transfer tax rate, which I could potentially get behind, but also increase the special tax threshold to two-thirds, which I definitely can't support. lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalys...
August 8, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Anyone been following this California ballot initiative? It's news to me. It would limit the maximum real estate transfer tax rate, which I could potentially get behind, but also increase the special tax threshold to two-thirds, which I definitely can't support. lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalys...
These townhomes are serving a younger, less affluent, more racially diverse population than Seattle's detached single-family houses. And this data is on homeowners specifically, who make up over 70% of the households living in the townhomes.
July 30, 2025 at 2:55 PM
These townhomes are serving a younger, less affluent, more racially diverse population than Seattle's detached single-family houses. And this data is on homeowners specifically, who make up over 70% of the households living in the townhomes.
The researchers find that the sites that get redeveloped tend to be larger parcels with older, smaller homes. There's no world where these homes are preserved as affordable starters — they're getting redeveloped either way. Do we want them to be mansions 3x as expensive as the original? I don't.
July 30, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The researchers find that the sites that get redeveloped tend to be larger parcels with older, smaller homes. There's no world where these homes are preserved as affordable starters — they're getting redeveloped either way. Do we want them to be mansions 3x as expensive as the original? I don't.
When four homes replace a SFH, each new home is about the same price as the original, and at 5 units or more, the new homes tend to be more affordable. But the critical comparison is to the 1-for-1 replacement — a mansionization, in other words.
July 30, 2025 at 2:55 PM
When four homes replace a SFH, each new home is about the same price as the original, and at 5 units or more, the new homes tend to be more affordable. But the critical comparison is to the 1-for-1 replacement — a mansionization, in other words.
To me, this is the most important chart in the study. It compares the sale price of housing in these zones before and after redevelopment. For 2-unit projects, the price of the new homes is 80% higher than the original house. This falls as the number of replacement homes rises.
July 30, 2025 at 2:55 PM
To me, this is the most important chart in the study. It compares the sale price of housing in these zones before and after redevelopment. For 2-unit projects, the price of the new homes is 80% higher than the original house. This falls as the number of replacement homes rises.
Over time, as land prices have increased in the city, the average FAR for new townhomes has increased. This is driven by declining lot sizes rather than shrinking units. The size of new townhouses has been remarkably stable, at around 1,400 sq ft on average.
July 30, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Over time, as land prices have increased in the city, the average FAR for new townhomes has increased. This is driven by declining lot sizes rather than shrinking units. The size of new townhouses has been remarkably stable, at around 1,400 sq ft on average.
Seattle's LR zones allow small multiplex and townhouse projects in places where single-family detached are the dominant building type, with up to 1.4 floor area ratio (FAR) in the densest zone. Projects are generally approved by-right. The modal project replaces 1 SFH with 4 townhouses.
July 30, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Seattle's LR zones allow small multiplex and townhouse projects in places where single-family detached are the dominant building type, with up to 1.4 floor area ratio (FAR) in the densest zone. Projects are generally approved by-right. The modal project replaces 1 SFH with 4 townhouses.
It's not the point of his post, but this chart from @dkthomp.bsky.social's Substack on the research history of GLP-1 really drives home how much time (and implicitly money) goes into developing life-saving and -improving drugs. And just how catastrophic it will be for us to abruptly stop investing.
July 25, 2025 at 6:58 PM
It's not the point of his post, but this chart from @dkthomp.bsky.social's Substack on the research history of GLP-1 really drives home how much time (and implicitly money) goes into developing life-saving and -improving drugs. And just how catastrophic it will be for us to abruptly stop investing.
You most definitely have not tried YIMBY in NYC, especially in Queens. You've built no more than 2-3 homes per 1,000 residents each year for decades.
July 3, 2025 at 4:43 AM
You most definitely have not tried YIMBY in NYC, especially in Queens. You've built no more than 2-3 homes per 1,000 residents each year for decades.