Where has housing development been *most concentrated* between 2020 & 2025: most housing added within a 1/2-mile area?
1—Dwtn Brooklyn
2—NoMa DC
3—Dwtn Nashville
4—Dwtn Miami
5—Long Is City Queens
6—N Liberties Philly
7—First Hill Seattle
8—Near N. Chicago
Explore: www.urban.org/urban-wire/w...
Remapping Debate's @benschneider.bsky.social up w new History for the Futureᵀᴹ interview: CUNY's Joshua Freeman on his new book, "Garden Apartments." It's an often overlooked part of nation's housing landscape with relevance for today. remappingdebate.org/node/2498 @rauchway.bsky.social (join rqt).
Yonah Freemark
Section 608 serves as a reminder of the range of financial tools available to the federal government (and, in some cases, state governments) to stimulate housing production.
It illustrates the mechanics of successful inclusionary zoning and social housing policies, where social goods, such as rent control, are offset by more favorable financing or tax terms.
And it shows that building big things, fast, requires a high risk tolerance for petty corruption.
In exchange for favorable financing and tax terms provided by the government, developers were required to cap profits at 6.5% and keep homes under rent control.
There was some chicanery in the program: Developers like Fred Trump took out larger mortgages than they needed to pad their profits, leading to a scandal that damaged government housing's rep. Yet, in the FHA, a little graft was seen as a small price for getting a lot of housing built quickly.
Very helpful level-set on LA's much talked about ED 1 policy. It's not as effective as it could have been, but it's still having a major impact.
With 8,500 units under construction, the policy is helping LA produce a lot more affordable housing than it could before.
Craig Gurian
Read more about Section 608 and the garden apartment complexes it spread across the country in my interview with historian Joshua Freeman:
www.remappingdebate.org/node/2498
One of the first ED 1 projects was recently sold to the LA Housing Authority at a cost of $378,000 per unit, much cheaper than subsidized new construction housing.
The authority will lease the property at a mix of low and moderate income levels.
therealdeal.com/la/2026/06/0...
Section 608 is the most successful housing policy you’ve never heard of.
In the 1940s and 50s, this FHA mortgage insurance program sparked the development of nearly 500,000 apartments, and played a major role in alleviating the postwar housing shortage.
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www.remappingdebate.org/node/2498
