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The housing narrative istoo focused on supply. In the November 19 press release announcing the laudable Regional Housing Coalition, the City of Columbus referred to the urgency of the “housing supply crisis.” Not the “housing crisis,” but specifically the “housing supply crisis.” However, deliberately characterizing the persistent housing precarity faced by millions of Americans for…… Continue reading Too much supply-talk

From the archives: Zoning processes of the past Columbus originally passed its first zoning legislation in 1923, then made major updates in the 1950s. In this post, you’ll find a collection of selected articles from The Columbus Dispatch and The Ohio State Journal about zoning issues throughout the 20th century. May 13, 1923 — The…… Continue reading From the archives: Zoning

A housing crisis for every decade The current realities of our housing situation often seem new. The media regularly speaks of a “housing crisis” driven chiefly by a supply shortage. This shortage is often characterized as a result of recent underbuilding. But media headlines throughout the 20th century have consistently proclaimed the existence of a…… Continue reading A housing crisis for every decade

Macro-level reactions to Phase One of the ‘Zone In’ updates The reforms in the ‘Zone In’ proposal resemble what cities around the country have been doing over the past few years to modernize outdated land use policy. Overall, this is a rather modest package of reforms that would create a more standardized and predictable pathway…… Continue reading Macro-level reactions to Phase One of the ‘Zone In’ updates

Density Daydreams Old-time Columbus had a lot more people! Not only people, but hundreds more shops, restaurants, and retail services of all kinds were available throughout our downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. And they were accessible by foot or by using miles and miles of streetcar tracks that criss-crossed the city—in addition to interurban trains that…… Continue reading Density Daydreams

How “the preferences of white property owners have been institutionalized” by land use policy Trounstine’s largely quantitative work of political science is a clear portrait of how white property owners have leveraged the power of separate political jurisdictions to exclude others while enriching themselves. Segregation by Design reveals how “the preferences of white property owners…… Continue reading How jurisdictional fragmentation exacerbates inequalities

How public meetings empower neighborhood gatekeeping Einstein, Glick, and Palmer pored through thousands of meeting minutes and matched public commenters with the voter roll to make fascinating advances in the scholarly understanding of public engagement and socio-demographic status. Unsurprisingly, they found that commenters are generally older, whiter, and more likely to own property than average…… Continue reading How public meetings empower neighborhood gatekeeping

💐 Thanks for making our Spring Strategy Session a success! 🥑 For our first strategy session—actually for any event—this was a fantastic exercise and demonstration of what a bunch of strangers can do with 90 minutes at the public library. This was an opportunity to explain the founding, activities, and mission of N4MN Columbus while…… Continue reading 💐 Thanks for making our Spring Strategy Session a success! 🥑

What are some of the zoning reforms we support? The path to creating more housing—of all types—is complex. One track we can start with is zoning and land use reform. While zoning largely started out as a way to separate incompatible and noxious land uses, it was quickly manipulated into a form of nefarious and…… Continue reading What are some of the zoning reforms we support?