Shane Phillips

Gonna be closing out my participation on Twitter over the next few months. The misinformation and electioneering by Musk is beyond the pale at this point and I really can't stick around any longer. Already active at Bluesky so find me there bsky.app/profile/shaned…

Had a great chat about my research into US building codes and the perverse incentives that shape them with @ShaneDPhillips and @elpaavo as part of their UCLA Housing Voice podcast. Hope you listen and enjoy! lewis.ucla.edu/2025/10/08/99-…

Single-stair reform has garnered a lot of attention and advocacy, and for good reason. The next step, in my mind, is elevator reform. This conversation with @MarketUrbanism is a great primer on why, and on what needs to change. Give it a listen! lewis.ucla.edu/2025/09/24/98-…

So our elevator standards make us less safe, they lead to fewer elevators and therefore worse accessibility, and they cost us a lot more when they're built, taking money we could be spending on other important things. They're in desperate need of reform.

In part 2 of our series on misaligned incentives in housing policy, the UCLA Housing Voice Podcast speaks with @MarketUrbanism about the high cost of elevators in North America, and the negative consequences for affordability and accessibility. lewis.ucla.edu/2025/09/24/98-…

@ScottChoppin @CSElmendorf Actually, come to think of it, I don't need to know. I don't use Twitter and don't need to engage with ad hominem, so I'll just mute and move on.

@ScottChoppin @CSElmendorf What exactly does this have to do with keeping my job? The fact that I don't reach the same conclusions as you means nothing more than exactly that.

.@ShaneDPhillips is a model of intellectual integrity. He was a supporter of Measure ULA. Now he's conducted and published a study showing it didn't work out as he had hoped. More of us should be like Shane.

@djw172 It basically came down to a misunderstanding that even though relatively few projects seem to sell a short time after construction, the prospect of paying the tax *if you had to sell* was functionally equivalent to planning to pay it, from a financing perspective.

@ShaneDPhillips I'm generally inclined to trust your judgement on housing and land use policy but I find it pretty stunning that you didn't see "no exemption for multifamily" as a clear dealbreaker.

Today the @UCLALewisCenter published our analysis on Measure ULA's effect on multifamily housing production in Los Angeles — a report that has been more than a year in the making for me and my coauthor Jason Ward at RAND. A thread on our findings below. lewis.ucla.edu/research/taxin…

So that's my summary, and my appeal to constructive conversations (and criticisms) going forward. I hope this work can play a small role in making LA a more inclusive and affordable city. lewis.ucla.edu/research/taxin…

There are real problems with Measure ULA, and we can't bury our heads in the sand and ignore them. If we want the tax — and its benefits — to stand the test of time, then the best way to do that is to face its problems honestly and work to fix them.