The U.S. Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation into a major software company called RealPage, which is described in the lawsuit as the “big tech” company of rental housing. It provides software that is used by landlords (and, typically, landlords who are large holders of rental property) to estimate supply and demand for their listings in order to help them maximize rents. The question is whether or not RealPage is facilitating algorithmic price fixing for some of the largest residential property owners and management firms—amounting to what DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb has described as a “housing cartel.” And since Strong Towns has just released Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis, we figured there was no better time to discuss this story than now.

• Order your copy of Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis today!

• “DOJ escalates price-fixing probe on housing market,” by Josh Sisco, Politico (March 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Since the 1970s, the number of cars on I-70 between Denver and its surrounding resorts have jumped more than 500%. Coloradans and frequent visitors know that, in order to reach the mountains during the gridlock of ski season, you must leave as early as 3 or 4 a.m. in the morning. Writer Gloria Liu decided to investigate this chaos by jumping directly into the traffic and interviewing the people stuck in it, and the article she penned about her adventure is up for discussion on this week’s episode of Upzoned. Can I-70 be fixed? And what do famous recreational arterials like I-70 reveal about our relationship with nature in the U.S.?

• “Colorado’s I-70 Has America’s Most Notorious Ski Traffic. Is There a Solution?” by Gloria Liu, Outside (March 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Cincinnati is currently undergoing a significant planning reformation effort, which involves unveiling what’s being called the Connected Communities plan. It includes a number of proposed land-use-related policy changes that are intended to help Cincinnati grow, with the goal of advancing zoning code changes, as well as supporting diversification and affordability of housing and bolstering business districts. Here on Upzoned this week to talk with host Abby Newsham about the proposal is John Yung, an urban planner, Program Manager at the Haile Foundation, and co-leader of the Cincy host committee for the upcoming Congress for the New Urbanism, which (along with the Strong Towns National Gathering) will be taking place in Cincinnati in May.

• “Mayor Pureval wants to redesign Cincinnati. Here's what that could look like,” by Becca Costello, WVXU (January 2024).

• Get your tickets for the National Gathering today!

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

On this week’s episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham and co-host Chuck Marohn are joined by Coby Lefkowitz, who penned the article that’s up for discussion: “Why small developers are getting squeezed out of the housing market.” It focuses on how finance shapes our cities, why debt is used to develop cities in the first place, how lenders deal with risk, and why risk mitigation is critical to understanding why the world looks the way it does. And, most notably, it dives into America's housing financial system and why it privileges large-scale institutional development at the expense of more incremental and community-based building.

• “Why small developers are getting squeezed out of the housing market,” by Coby Lefkowitz, Noahpinion (March 2024).

• Coby Lefkowitz (Website; X/Twitter).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week on Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Michael Schneider, founder of Streets for All and the campaign manager for Healthy Streets Los Angeles. They discuss an article from The Los Angeles Times titled, “L.A. bus and bike lane measure will cost $3.1 billion, a new report says. Backers cry foul.” This piece was written in advance of the ballot proposal Measure HLA, which was recently approved by voters, and mandates the installation of hundreds of miles of transportation improvements in L.A. over the next decade, with a focus on bike lanes and sidewalk improvements.

(Editor’s note: This episode was recorded before the results of the ballot were released.)

• “L.A. bus and bike lane measure will cost $3.1 billion, a new report says. Backers cry foul,” by David Zahniser, The Los Angeles Times (February 2024).

• “The People of Los Angeles Just Said ‘Yes’ to Safer Streets,” by Asia Mieleszko, Strong Towns (March 2024).

• Streets for All (website).

• Healthy Streets Los Angeles (website).

• Michael Schneider (LinkedIn; X/Twitter).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney is joined by Mike Keen, a retired professor and incremental developer in South Bend, Indiana, to discuss a recent article in WSBT, “Major mixed-use development could be largest in downtown South Bend history.” It highlights a $350 million project that has been proposed in downtown South Bend: a mixed-use district that would include hotels, apartments, and commercial uses, to be completed by 2028. The development, led by nearby Memorial Hospital, will take up about two city blocks and is expected to be a catalytic project for the city. So, we ask: is this project going to be a positive for South Bend and its small-scale developers like Keen?

• “Major mixed-use development could be largest in downtown South Bend history,” by Sean English, WSBT (February 2024).

• “This ‘Accidental Developer’ Wants To Show You How To Revitalize Your Neighborhood,” by Seairra Jones, Strong Towns (April 2023).

• Escaping the Housing Trap: A Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis by Charles Marohn. Available for preorder now!

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Mike Keen (LinkedIn).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

A suburb of Washington, DC is exploring a new approach to creating more affordable housing through public-private partnerships. And it’s seeing success! In this episode of Upzoned, Chuck and Abby discuss the history of public housing and government housing subsidies in the US, the good, the bad and the ugly. Then they consider whether this new model could be helpful or harmful to cities.

• “What if public housing were for everyone?” by Rachel M. Cohen, Vox (February 2024).

• Escaping the Housing Trap: A Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis by Charles Marohn. Available for preorder now!

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Local officials in Dallas are considering eliminating minimum parking requirements in the city. The zoning ordinance advisory committee just voted to advance the measure to the city planning commission, and if approved there, it would then go on to the city council.

Critics believe that this is a one-size-fits-all approach to parking reform and that it’s not an ideal solution to Dallas’s parking dilemma, whereas proponents say the change will cut down on unused parking spaces and accelerate the city’s economic development.

So, is this measure a good or a bad move for Dallas?

• “Dallas Zoning Committee Advances Parking Reform,” by Andrew Terrell, The Dallas Express (February 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week’s Upzoned episode covers a story that sounded promising at the start: “The Town That Took Downtown Renewal to the Next Level”? Sounds great! Right? Alas, residents of Morristown, Tennessee, have discovered that the Skymark (i.e., an elevated sidewalk) they built in the 1960s was not the salvation for their downtown they’d hoped it would be. Join host Abby Newsham and co-host Chuck Marohn as they take a deep dive on how this huge investment, unfortunately, didn’t pan out as a long-term strategy for economic prosperity.

• “The Town That Took Downtown Renewal to the Next Level,” by David Zipper, CityLab (January 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Five families from Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Pittsburg move to the suburbs in search of the American dream, drawn by promises of better schools and all the other amenities promised by suburban life…but instead, they’re experiencing the decline of the suburbs, rather than the benefits that were sold to them.

On this week’s episode, host Abby Kinney and co-host Chuck Marohn discuss this story, told in “The Suburbs Have Become a Ponzi Scheme,” and based on the book, Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America's Suburbs.

• “The Suburbs Have Become a Ponzi Scheme,” by Alex Kotlowitz, The Atlantic (January 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Millennials are officially getting old. They’re having children, buying houses, and getting replaced by Gen Z in urban areas. As one article from Business Insider puts it, “Millennials are getting priced out of cities,” and are starting to leave the urban neighborhoods that they’ve been building their lives in, up to this point. According to the author, since the cost and types of housing available in urban areas isn’t conducive to family life, millennials are having to instead flee to the only place they can afford to live: the exurbs.

What’s the Strong Towns take on this? Join host Abby Newsham and co-host Chuck Marohn as they discuss this article on this week’s episode of Upzoned.

• “Millennials are getting priced out of cities,” by Eliza Relman, Business Insider (Jan. 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.