Who Killed the Starter Home?

"If you try to keep anything from changing in the buildings, then what has to change is the people," shared Andrew Burleson, Board Chair of Strong Towns , as he walked me through the way out-of-proportion regulations that lead to our analysis-paralysis. Are we sure that a simple backyard cottage or a neighborhood triplex need to face a multi-year legal gridlock as if it's an airport or a nuclear p...

As someone who advocates for affordable housing, I am having a hard time processing this data—but it is officially in , and it’s a massive reality check.   Economist Jason Sorens has done extensive modeling on New Jersey’s housing landscape and found that Mount Laurel and inclusionary zoning mandates have had a 0% net impact on increasing overall housing supply or lowering housing costs. While the...

When Erick and Carolina were recent architecture grads navigating a long-distance relationship between Houston and McAllen, Texas, Erick dropped a question that would completely rewrite their futures: "Will You Design a House with Me?" While standard relationship advice warns against co-managing massive financial and design projects, this single speculative starter home on Orange Avenue became the...

Our latest episode was recorded live at the NJ Planning and Redevelopment Conference with Randi Moore, CEO of the Affordable Housing Alliance . We dove into a frustrating paradox: under normal circumstances the standard funding, rigid compliance rules, and hyper-fragmented municipal zoning completely freeze the pipeline for modest starter homes. But when a catastrophe strikes—like Hurricane Sandy—...

If we "just fix zoning" all our housing problems will be solved, right? Not exactly. In this episode, Professional Planner Gabby Hart joins us from Colorado to share her experience working with municipalities on master plans and zoning regulations. She explains the unexpected friction between the public process and private restrictions and how sometimes it’s deed restrictions and private covenants...

Potholes need fixing: no argument there! But while the "universal pothole consensus" keeps our eyes glued to the asphalt, it can make us miss the grander, more exciting evolution waiting to happen in our towns. In this episode, urban journalist and researcher John Surico ( https://www.johnsurico.com/ ) challenges us to look way beyond basic maintenance. He shares his firsthand experiences bringing...

Developers are often terrified of community engagement because they cannot control it. But in a world where projects face years of gridlock, should we admit that it is far riskier financially and socially to skip it? In this week's podcast, I spoke with architect and urban planner Merilee Meacock, partner at KSS Architects , about her experience working alongside visionary developers, planners, an...

In this week's podcast, I spoke with urban planner Silvia Del Fava, who shares findings from her extensive research in New York State. They interviewed municipal officials, land use professionals, engineers, and developers to understand what is contributing to our current housing gridlock. Similar stories of technical, unpredictable, and unexplainable regulations that vary wildly across 1,600 diff...

In this episode, I spoke with Ricardo Flores, Executive Director of the nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation ( LISC San Diego ), where he oversees financing affordable housing and investing in underserved neighborhoods in San Diego CA. Ricardo brings a rare perspective that combines politics, government policy, and finance — and he shares some uncomfortable truths: many of the barriers...

This week, our guest is Mike Anderson. Mike describes himself as a "proud survivor of the working poor". He shares the traumatic journey of growing up in subsidized housing in Plainfield during the "crack era" and the loss of his father, who was killed when Mike was only five. Thanks to the efforts and support of Mike’s mom—a union leader who showed him the power of organizing —he was able to navi...

Sujit Singh hopes to bring his 30-year experience in technology consulting to Congress. He outlines a vision for leveraging robotics, AI, and space-based solar energy to reduce the cost of housing and public transit. Mr. Singh shared his story of running for mayor in our neighboring town of West Windsor and developing his "Space, Lean, Innovation" model. He proposes that technological solutions ca...

Most people talk about the American Dream; Mayor Adrian Mapp lived it. He arrived from Barbados to join his mother, who had first come to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant to pave the way for her children. In this episode, we discuss his journey from those roots to leading Plainfield through four terms of "transformational change." We dive into what it actually takes to manage a city and why h...

In this episode, I spoke with Raymond Heck, who brings a blunt, municipal-focused energy to the race for Congress. He believes that Washington is disconnected from the "nuts and bolts" of local government—paving roads and fixing sewers—and that this gap is the source of our affordability crisis and infrastructure failures. As a law enforcement officer and a small-town mayor, he brings a mix of hum...

Washington is a shark tank, says Dr. Brad Cohen, a physician and the sitting Mayor of East Brunswick. In this episode, we discuss how taking care of patients and delivering babies as a gynecologist, protecting education as a school board member, and negotiating economic development and housing as a mayor makes him qualified to make a difference in Congress. In all his pursuits, he’s been willing t...

In this episode, I spoke with Squire Servance , an attorney and healthcare leader who plans to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to Congress. Our conversation centers on how his experience as a practicing lawyer and business owner informs his vision for the 12th District. Squire shares his perspective on healthcare and childcare reform, rethinking the path to career success for future generations,...

Recently, we have seen politicians attacking science, but what if scientist decide to flight back? In this episode, I spoke with a researcher who is stepping out of the lab and into the race for Congress. Sam Wang sees Washington not just as a political battlefield, but as a system with broken rules that need to be fixed with data and logic. He has spent his career studying the brain and the "scie...

In this episode, I spoke with Shanel Robinson , whose journey from maintaining fighter jets in the military to leading Somerset County as Commissioner Director is rooted in a deep-seated desire to serve. Our conversation focused on her emotional and moral commitment to "do right by the people." We explore her transition to county leadership and her dedication to bringing compassion and heart to he...

In this episode Sue Altman discusses the fundamental question: in a moment of deep uncertainty, can the Democratic Party move from reactive defense to a proactive vision that genuinely changes lives? We touched on reimagining transit as a catalyst of economic independence and how cleaning up underutilized industrial sites could help our housing crisis. I learned about Sue's skepticism of Big Tech...

Kyle Little isn't just seeking a seat; he’s calling out a party he says has grown "reactive" and passive in the face of crisis. As the first candidate to jump into the NJ-12 race, challenging the status quo long before the seat was "open," Kyle is demanding a new era of forceful messaging to shut down divisive rhetoric and own the Democratic narrative. A small business owner, personal trainer and...

On this podcast we usually focus on housing policy, but we are taking some time to host  special conversations with the candidates running for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. While our listeners outside of New Jersey may not care about this specific election, they may be fascinated to hear that we have 17 courageous people putting themselves in the spotlight and offering their vision and...

On this podcast we usually focus on housing policy, but today we are starting a special series of conversations with the candidates running for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. While our listeners outside of New Jersey may not care about this specific election, they may be fascinated to hear that we have 17 courageous people putting themselves in the spotlight and offering their vision an...

What do you do when the equivalent of a plane full of people moves to your city every single day — not tourists, but people coming to stay? Calgary experienced exactly that. A successful marketing campaign attracted new residents, and suddenly growth wasn’t theoretical — it was reality. In this episode, I spoke with Dr. Teresa Goldstein, Chief Planner and Director of Community Planning for the Cit...

Do you feel like something in our country is seriously broken right now? Like we’re losing a piece of what once made America optimistic and upwardly mobile — the belief that our future could be better than our past? Yoni Appelbaum has done the research, and the story he tells is unsettling but also hopeful. For most of American history, uniquely in the world, America’s secret sauce was the freedom...

In this episode, I talk with Gregg Colburn about why homelessness is not just a personal tragedy, but a policy failure. Professor Colburn has done the research. If we want fewer people on the street, we must create more homes. It’s not rocket science. We’ve tried it, and it works.

In this episode, I talk with Andrew Mikula, who is leading an effort to bring a ballot measure to voters in Massachusetts that would make it possible to create starter homes . Their proposal doesn’t seem too radical: if you have a plot of land the size of an NBA basketball court, or can create a lot of that size in an area with existing infrastructure, you should be allowed to build a home on it....