Top all-time · #6924
Shane Phillips
Personal blog · betterinstitutions.com/blogpoliticseconomics
Shane Phillips writes Better Institutions, a personal blog at betterinstitutions.com about politics and economics. Since 2016, 12 different Hacker News readers have linked it 13 times, most often “Disconnect between liberal aspirations and housing policy is killing U.S. cities”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-03-21, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (5) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Shane Phillips's housing-policy posts as sources on California's Prop 13, car-free households in new urban housing, Los Angeles wood-frame construction limits, and public rental proposals.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 5 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Writing on housing, transportation and local government by Shane Phillips, author of The Affordable City.
Most-linked posts?
- Disconnect between liberal aspirations and housing policy is killing U.S. cities4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-04-21
- A Rental Pension Program to Compete with Homeownership (2021)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-04-19
What Hacker News says?
In California we could easily solve the housing shortage by eliminating prop 13. Because land isn't taxed based on it's current value landowners have little incentive to develop their land in order to get the most out of it. They simply bank land as much as possible as it's the most surefire way to turn a profit. It's why we have golf courses ( https://www.planetizen.com/node/93284/la-country-clubs-takin... ) in cit…
Comment linking /blog/2015/07/prop-13-california-broken-property-tax-part-1
on “Housing can’t both be a good investment and be affordable”Submitted Supply, stability and subsidy are the foundation of affordable cities as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe proposal seems untenable unless it creates a marketable asset. The more detailed description ( http://www.betterinstitutions.com/blog/2021/2/2/rental-pensi... ) calls it "Social Security" for housing.
Comment linking /blog/2021/2/2/rental-pension-social-housing-compete-with-homeownership
on “Public-ownership rental as a third option to renting or owning a house”Submitted Disconnect between liberal aspirations and housing policy is killing U.S. cities as a story · 2 points
HN discussionYou're right. I mixed up my stats. Most of the new households come in these cities without owning a car. Sources: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/08/15/car-free-households-are... https://ggwash.org/view/35905/88-of-new-dc-households-are-ca... http://www.betterinstitutions.com/blog/2013/07/almost-all-of...
Comment linking /blog/2013/07/almost-all-of-los-angeles-growth-is-in
on “Peak Millennial? Cities Can’t Assume a Continued Boost from the Young”Submitted A Rental Pension Program to Compete with Homeownership (2021) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThere's a similar article by a more trustworthy source, so I'd definitely believe it: http://www.betterinstitutions.com/blog/2021/6/13/dont-expand... You can also just read the proposal yourself and draw your own conclusions: https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2019/19-0603_mot_06-05-...
Comment linking /blog/2021/6/13/dont-expand-fire-district-1-eliminate-it
on “Los Angeles is gearing up to ban wood-frame construction”Submitted Maybe We Should Re-Frame the California Density Bonus as a “Market-Rate Penalty” as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThe problem is that restricting purchasing is a tiny stop-gap. It might be a useful stop-gap depending on the circumstances, but it won't actually solve the problem. It's like having a hole in your boat, tossing two bucket-fulls of water out, and then calling it a day. The boat is better off, but the water is still coming in and eventually the problem will be back and will keep getting worse. So Canada has shed a sm…
Comment linking /blog/2021/3/25/what-housing-boom-an-updated-chart-of-housing-units-built-each-year-in-the-city-of-los-angeles
on “Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes”Submitted The Disconnect Between Aspirations and Housing Policy Is Killing Coastal Cities as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Los Angeles' Measure S would block over 19,000 planned housing units as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Disconnect Between Liberal Aspirations and Liberal Housing Policy as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Disconnect Between Liberal Aspirations and Liberal Housing Policy as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
