If policymakers are going to jack up housing costs with ever more onerous environmental regulations, they should stop bleating about a lack of 'affordable housing'. ...
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To make housing affordable, policymakers need to remove the things that are making it unaffordable now: excessive regulations....
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A new report finds that the 'affordable housing' crisis in the Twin Cities is a creation of state and local government here. Regulations, passed by lawmakers here, have driven costs up. Is it really sensible to try to solve a problem caused by political regulation with another round of political regulation? ...
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As the economist Assar Lindbeck put it, "In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing."...
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Uh-oh. Someone at the "density is destiny" crowd in Minneapolis and at the Met Council that millennials may not be the lovers of urban living they have been chalked up to be. As, millennials marry later and have kids later, it may prolong their stay in the cities, but it appears that once they start having children they prioritize the larger spaces, more-affordable housing, and better schools found in the suburbs. The story posted below originally appeared in Axios. For years, an unwavering certitude of industry, think tanks, demographers, policy-makers and city planners everywhere has been that humanity is moving to the...
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According to Milton Friedman, one of the great economists of the 20th century, "One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results". Just because something is called a 'Jobs bill' or an 'Affordable Care Act' does not mean that more jobs or affordable care will be the result. When assessing these policies, we should not look at the good intentions that produced and named them, but at their actual effects on jobs or the affordability of care. In this Newsweek column from October 1982, Friedman lists a number of examples where government...
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The growing homeless encampment near Cedar Riverside along Hiawatha and Franklin avenue in Minneapolis has proven dangerous, as two people have now passed away at the encampment. The encampment has quadrupled in size over the past month, overwhelming the ability of the city to provide health and sanitation services to those who have taken residency there....
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Did you know the City of Minneapolis wants you to reduce your driving trips by 37 percent by 2050? Find out why this plan is all pain and no gain for Minneapolis residents. ...
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Before our legislature or local governments try anything new, or tap more taxpayers dollars, they should first analyze how state and local regulations drive the costs of building and maintaining rental and other housing, especially for people who are cost sensitive: students, young people just getting a start and for low-income residents, including the elderly who are in fixed incomes....
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Our treatment by Congress and presidents back to George H. W. Bush has been downright shabby. The refugee resettlement program is a federal program; it was supposed to be paid for by federal tax dollars. Instead, the bulk of the funds and hard work come from state and local funds, with the burden on communities like St. Cloud. It sets people up for conflict with refugees rather than success. We must insist that Congress do its job and revisit this program....
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