Stephanie Kestelman

Policymakers would benefit from systematic analysis of how elevator prices, maintenance costs, and the overall cost of building multifamily housing might change if U.S. states were to adopt the European/global code More here: skestelman.github.io/blog/

reducing competition in the markets for elevator manufacturing, installation, and maintenance. Economists are trained to answer questions such as, “What happens to prices when barriers to entry are removed?”

North America has an elevator problem. Elevators are more expensive to install and maintain in the United States and Canada than elsewhere in the developed world.

The U.S. has not built enough 🏡homes in over a decade, and the consequences are showing up everywhere. On @VelshiMSNOW, AV’s @jenny_schuetz explains why supply is the core issue and what it will take to fix it. Watch the full @MSNOWNews interview with @velshi: bit.ly/4bJ506a

This is shaping up as the most consistent finding in housing studies: Building lots of luxury housing can reduce rents at the top of the market—but the people it helps most are renters struggling to afford even the least desirable units

There’s no path to regional housing affordability that doesn’t include building a lot more market-rate housing. When we implement policies that restrict new housing production, we make the problem worse, no matter how well-intentioned the policy may be.

"There is now unambiguous, solid economic evidence, not just abstract economic theory, that rent control would make the affordability problems facing [Massachusetts] worse, not better." - Jon Gruber, Chairman of the Economics Department at MIT

The Home Builders Assoc just came out against a significant housing bill progressing through Congress and they have a good point. Both Trump and progressive Dems want restrictions on institutional ownership of houses. Most wonks are skeptical of the policy but it polls very well, so some version will make it in. In a previous version, there was a carve out for institutions that build new housing for the rental market. The restrictions would only apply to institutions buying existing houses and taking them off the market (or more precisely, moving them from for-sale to for-rent). In a bipartisan bill released last night, institutions that build new houses to rent would have to dispose of them within 7 years. This makes no sense. We need more housing of all types, both rental and for sale. Restricting what new capital can do with homes it builds will result in less housing, undermining the bill’s purpose. Trump’s January exec order exempted those who build new homes from ownership restrictions, recognizing that new construction in any form helps address the housing shortage. The home builders are right that this bill should follow the same approach.

Check out this opportunity via the Better Urbanism, Infrastructure and Land-use Decision-making (BUILD) 🌆🌃

Profs & students: Want to write a case study of state housing legislation this summer? Apply for funding from @ssrc_org & @Arnold_Ventures. Application deadline is March 30. (link in next tweet) 1/2

This is an important message to progressive mayors: the era of sustaining bloated operations through tax increases on a shrinking base is over. They must think about better rather than more.

@CohenSite Can you propose an alternative?

I've been praising this paper a lot today, but I do want to provide one major criticism... They used RS Means data for construction costs. Never use RS Means data. It's complete bullshit.

If you have causal research on federal policies, mortgage markets, insurance markets, demand-side policies, such as rental assistance and tenant protections, or any other housing-related policies, please submit your LOI to the Building Evidence RFP. arnoldventures.org/evidence-evalu…

Outcomes can include: -early-stage responses to policy reforms (e.g., land transactions, entitlements) -housing production (e.g., new builds, adaptation & renovation of existing structures, chars of new structures) -housing mkt outcomes (e.g., prop values or rental prices)

The Infrastructure RFPs are now live! For the "Measurement and Evaluation of State and Local Housing Supply Reforms" RFP, we are looking studies that measure or evaluate the impact of recent state and local policy reforms that legalize or encourage new housing supply. 1/

Arnold Ventures is launching two new Infrastructure RFPs to strengthen the evidence base for better housing and transportation systems in the United States: - Measurement and Evaluation of State and Local Housing Supply Reforms - Transportation Research and Policy Letters of Interest are due March 27. Learn more and apply: bit.ly/4rEZTKz

Bharat's substack response ⤵️ to my thread about his & @nealemahoney's op-ed has brightened my day. So refreshing compared to the snarks (and vivid expressions of desire for my assassination) conveyed on this platform. A few notes on possible paths forward. 🧵/13

@MacyGunnell @uscollegegop Source of the data?

Embarrassed to be a Gen Z woman right now…. this left-wing skew is INSANE. The future of Western Society is screwed if we don’t take this seriously.

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