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We have tools and resources to help you get started with building a Housing-Ready City with a culture that nurtures local development. Get the toolkits: buff.ly/V641Hdg And read the full article: buff.ly/6SLVwUv

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “We outline what it takes to build the culture in our Housing-Ready City toolkits. Get them at
strongtowns.org/housingready” The covers of the toolkits are also shown.

Screenshot of the article “Why State Housing Reform is Failing (and What We Can Do About It)”. Read more on strongtowns.org

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Legalization is a good first step, but that’s it. It’s a first step. The next is actually building an ecosystem around making these changes possible.

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “Legalization is a good first step, but that’s it. It’s a first step. The next is actually building an ecosystem around making these changes possible.”

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There are some things that state mandates can't do, like build teach staff members, build trust between the city and builders, and form local partnerships.

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “As Edward Erfurt notes, there are things that state mandates can’t do.” Select text in a screenshot are highlighted.

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The smallest of projects must navigate systems designed for the largest of developments. A 600-square-foot backyard cottage must comply with the same development standards, permitting submission requirements, and timelines as a 2,500-square-foot house on a one-acre lot.

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “Builders still couldn’t make the projects work. They could not make these work not because the idea was wrong, but because there's no broader system to support small-scale development in place. The smallest of projects must navigate systems designed for the largest of developments. A 600-square-foot backyard cottage must comply with the same development standards, permitting submission requirements, and timelines as a 2,500-square-foot house on a one-acre lot.”

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While Strong Towns’ Chief Technical Advisor Edward Erfurt was in Flagstaff, Arizona, the city council had declared a housing emergency. The city and community were on board with ADUs, but builders still couldn’t make the projects work because there's no broader system of support.

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “While Strong Towns’ Chief Technical Advisor Edward Erfurt was in Flagstaff, Arizona, the city council had declared a housing emergency. Here’s what happened, in his words:” Select text in a screenshot are highlighted.

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 03/12/2025

Statewide zoning reform isn’t producing the wins everyone expected. For example, state law can declare that small backyard cottages are legal. But unless cities can review them, permit them, and builders can finance them, legalization will remain largely symbolic.

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “Allowed by right does not equal possible in practice.”

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “Statewide zoning reform isn’t producing the wins everyone expected. For example, state law can declare that small backyard cottages are legal. But unless cities can review them, permit them, and builders can finance them, legalization will remain largely symbolic. The permissions may have changed, but the reflexes never adapted.”

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Read more in “How Fayetteville’s New Program Makes It Easy To Build Housing” on our site! buff.ly/hxkexmZ

Screenshot of the article “How Fayetteville’s New Program Makes It Easy To Build Housing.” Read more on strongtowns.org

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 03/12/2025

It also helps people know where to start—a crucial piece for getting new and local developers into the system. And moving from gatekeeping to guidance also means city staff work hands-on with developers and builders who are eager to build what the city needs.

Graphic with text: “City staff worked with local developers and builders to find and proactively address obstacles to building. Like the city’s sidewalk requirement. Instead of requiring each builder to install a sidewalk themselves, they could instead pay a fee, and the city would later add sidewalks when more homes are built in the area. This makes the process more efficient and coordinated.”

Graphic with text: “The program currently applies only to the downtown and Walker Park neighborhoods, two of the oldest neighborhoods that are well suited for infill development. But the program is a practical example of how thoughtful city interventions can make a real difference.” The map of where the program applies is also visible.

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 03/12/2025

Fayetteville’s new housing program is a great example that illustrates recommendations in our Housing-Ready City toolkits. The program gets permits out quickly, reducing confusion and friction that prevents housing from being built.

Graphic with text: “Housing News: Fayetteville, AK launched a new housing program that gives residents a clearer, faster path to building homes”

Graphic with text: “With a catalog of nearly 30 permit-ready plans, the program reduces uncertainty, speeds up permitting, and lowers costs.” Examples of pre-approved plans are also shown in the background.

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 02/12/2025

It trained us to experience isolation as prosperity and consumption as citizenship. But if the Suburban Experiment trained us this way, then Strong Towns, this bottom-up movement, is teaching us the opposite. It’s teaching us that we will not outsource belonging.

Grainy photo of a photo with tracing paper. Text reads: “But if the Suburban Experiment trained us to experience isolation as prosperity and consumption as citizenship, the bottom-up movement is teaching us the opposite.”

Grainy photo of a photo with tracing paper. Text reads: “We will not outsource belonging.”

Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 02/12/2025

The Suburban Experiment promised prosperity and wealth by spreading out. But the farther we spread out, the more abstract our systems became. The Suburban Experiment didn’t just change our geography. It rewired our culture.

Grainy photo of a photo with tracing paper. Text reads: “The Suburban Experiment didn’t just change our geography. It rewired our culture.”

Grainy photo of a photo with tracing paper. Text reads: “It trained us to experience isolation as prosperity and consumption as citizenship.”

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Read more in "Complete Streets in Name Only: How Federal Transportation Policy Undermines Local Outcomes" on our site: buff.ly/6YesJwU

Screenshot of the article “Complete Streets in Name Only: How Federal Transportation Policy Undermines Local Outcomes.” Read more on strongtowns.org

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By aligning itself with federal funding mechanisms, proponents allowed its priorities to be diluted. Instead of producing streets that are safe, human-scaled, and integrated into neighborhoods, we’ve ended up with expensive projects that serve as compliance exercises.

Text reads: “By aligning itself with federal funding mechanisms, Complete Streets proponents allowed its priorities to be diluted. Instead of producing streets that are safe, human-scaled and integrated into the fabric of neighborhoods, we’ve ended up with expensive projects that serve as compliance exercises for grant eligibility. We shouldn’t only rely on federally-funded complete streets to have safe streets.”

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A citizen-led Crash Analysis Studio examining the crash found that the crossing itself is shadowed by poor lighting, flanked by signage that obstructs visibility, and surrounded by traffic traveling well above the posted 30 mph speed limit.

Text reads: In 2023, a citizen-led Crash Analysis Studio in Hyattsville found several issues that the city could address immediately to prevent future crashes. These were a few of them.” Yellow arrows on a photo of Ager Road point to redundant, confusing signage, slip lanes instead of actual turns, and 26 feet to the median as elements of the design that led to the crash.

Despite these accolades, a pedestrian — Hellen Jorgensen — was killed at the only designated crossing along the corridor.

Text reads: “Take Ager Road in Hyattsville, Maryland as an example. This project cost about $15 million and was heralded as a model fo the “Green-Complete Streets” approach. Despite these accolades, a pedestrian — Hellen Jorgensen — was killed at the only designated crossing along the corridor.” A photo of a memorial at Ager Road is also shown.

Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 25/11/2025

The Complete Streets movement began with a compelling, people-first vision: streets designed to be safe, accessible, and welcoming to everyone, not just cars. But as this vision was absorbed into the federal transportation bureaucracy, it became a hollowed-out shell.

Text reads: “The Complete Streets movement began with a compelling people-first vision: streets designed to be safe, accessible, and welcoming to everyone. But as this vision was absorbed into the federal transportation bureaucracy, it became a hollowed-out shell of its former self.”

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“To do the experiment, I have to live in it.” That’s what Monte Anderson told The New York Times when his work refitting his home into a multigenerational “roommate house” was spotlighted.

Screenshot collage of Monte Anderson and Asia Mieleszko. Text reads: “It’s personal. Whenever I build something, I try to build it for someone I love.”

Screenshot of the New York Times article “Would the Housing Crisis Ease if Boomers Rented Out Their Empty Rooms?”

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 24/11/2025

Leawood can follow their example. Read more in “Low Crime, High Risk: The Deadly Streets of Kansas City’s Safest Suburb” on our site. buff.ly/BJ9D3zK

Text reads: “With 15 crashes in 5 years, Leawood cannot afford to keep waiting. The city can follow the example of others who have asked: what can we do this week to make our streets safer?” A screenshot of strongtowns.org/crashstudio is also shown

Screenshot of the article “Low Crime, High Risk: The Deadly Streets of Kansas City’s Safest Suburb.” Read more on strongtowns.org

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 24/11/2025

While some of the deadly corridors are getting a redesign, it’s worth asking what can be done sooner or in the interim. Other cities like Charlottesville, Jersey City, and Indianapolis are already making changes to their streets using insights from the Crash Analysis Studio.

Text reads: “While some of the deadly corridors in Leawood are getting a redesign, it’s worth asking what can be done sooner or in the interim. Places like Jersey City, Charlottesville, and Indianapolis are already putting insights from the Crash Analysis Studio into practice.” Screenshots of headlines are also shown.

Text reads: “Jersey City, NJ used tactical urbanism to experiment with local calibration rather than a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. In collaboration with local leaders who were committed to safer street design, Jersey City had zero traffic deaths in 2022.” Photos of Jersey City’s street redesign are also shown, courtesy of Street Plans.

Text reads: “The transportation staff in Charlottesville, VA began hosting monthly neighborhood walking tours in 2024. While these walks weren’t originally feedback sessions, they’re now one of the city’s most effective tools for collaboration and change.” A screenshot of an article highlighting some text is also shown.

Text reads: “And Indianapolis, IN encourages residents to be involved in improving the city through its Community Powered Infrastructure program.” A screenshot of an article highlighting some text is also shown.

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 24/11/2025

At least 15 times in the past 5 years, someone walking or riding a scooter or bicycle has been struck by a moving vehicle in Leawood, Kansas. Many of those struck were children. The parents intuitively recognize that street design is a contributing factor. And it’s time to act.

Text reads: “Leawood is one of the safest, most desirable suburbs in the Kansas City Metro Area. And yet, people keep dying on its streets. At least 15 times in the past 5 years, someone has been struck by a moving vehicle in Leawood, many of them children.”

Text reads: “The parents intuitively recognize what the Crash Analysis Studio makes explicit: street design is a contributing factor. And furthermore, it’s time to act, not just plan for the future.” Screenshots from the article “Leawood parents push for safer streets after 10-year-old boy’s death” with quotations highlighted are also shown.

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 21/11/2025

It wasn’t the exact plan the community had hoped for, but it’s still progress. Families are already walking along streets that feel safer, and the Local Conversation isn’t stopping here. They’ll keep pushing for additional improvements so every child can travel safely to school.

Simulated Apple Notes graphic with suggestions for anyone considering a similar project in their own community.

Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 21/11/2025

Not every advocacy effort ends perfectly, but progress counts. Strong Towns Hallowell helped reduce traffic speeds near a local school, showing what a committed community can achieve. They’re hoping that next time, the city will act faster.

Google Streetview of the intersection of Central and Hillcrest Streets in Hallowell, Maine. Text says: “Using resources from the Crash Analysis Studio, Strong Towns Hallowell conducted a speed study, made recommendations, and put those recommendations to the test.”

Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 21/11/2025

Walking to school shouldn’t be a death defying stunt. That’s why Strong Towns Hallowell, a group of advocates in the historic Maine city of less than 3,000 people, is working with the city to make it safe. If it’s safe for children, it’s safe for everyone.

Google Streetview of the intersection of Central and Hillcrest Streets in Hallowell, Maine. Text says: “Walking to school shouldn’t be a death defying stunt. This intersection in Hallowell, Maine is a well-known hazard in the community.”

Google Streetview of the intersection of Central and Hillcrest Streets in Hallowell, Maine. Text says: “Cars speed up this blind hill.” In small font are the words “What’s on the other side? Who knows!”

Google Streetview of the intersection of Central and Hillcrest Streets in Hallowell, Maine. Text says: And a lack of sidewalks makes this especially dangerous for people on foot.”

Screenshot of an article titled “Hallowell group gets grant for traffic calming at intersection” by Ethan Horton.

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 20/11/2025

New corporate landlords target declining markets in the Rust Belt and Midwest, confident they can profit despite local economic conditions. How did we get here? And if corporate landlords strip communities of local control and regulation gets outsmarted, how can cities actually fight back?

Screenshot of the Apple Podcasts transcript of Stacked Against Us. These words are highlighted: Okay, okay, I have to catch you up to speed here.

Screenshot of the Apple Podcasts transcript of Stacked Against Us. These words are highlighted: They own 24,000 homes.

Screenshot of the Apple Podcasts transcript of Stacked Against Us. These words are highlighted: Why do their investors believe buying crumbling homes in struggling cities is a winning strategy? Why the confidence that the millions they’ve poured in will come back with interest?

Screenshot of the Apple Podcasts transcript of Stacked Against Us. These words are highlighted: Well, we answered that in the last episode, didn’t we? It’s all those post-2008 incentives, like a zero interest rate policy and quantitative easing, right? Yes, but there’s more to it.

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 19/11/2025

It’s the kind of road one might take to reach a truck repair yard, a bar and grill, or a portable toilet rental service. The language of “improvement” masks the project’s actual function: capacity expansion.

Text reads: “On paper, the project promised sustainability, economic development, and multimodal infrastructure. But in practice, the federal funding structure incentivized a fundamentally flawed investment in a one-mile stretch of industrial road with limited use, questionable economic potential, and a poor financial return.” An aerial view with the proposed area marked in red.

Text reads: “This is not an outlier. It is a direct consequence of a federal transportation system that prioritizes expansion projects even when local capacity, demand, and return on investment are all absent.”

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 19/11/2025

McGilchrist Street in Salem, Oregon is not a critical corridor of commerce. It is a low-intensity, low-value industrial street. So why is it getting $28.4 million in funding for an “improvement” project?

A streetview image of McGilchrist St in Salem, OR. Text reads “This is not a critical corridor of commerce or a growth hotspot. So why is Salem is investing $15.2 million of local funds into an “improvement” project?”

Text reads: “In 2022, the city of Salem, Oregon, received a $13.2 million grant from the federal RAISE program — short for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity — to fund what was officially labeled the ‘McGilchrist Street Improvement Project.’ The project’s total cost was estimated at $28.4 million, with Salem contributing the remaining $15.2 million in local funds.”

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 18/11/2025

First 20-year mortgages, then 30-year loans. Now 50. Each one buys time, not stability.

Text reads: “Longer loan terms also have historically pushed home prices up. The result is less affordable homes.” A photo of page 70 of Escaping the Housing Trap by Charles L. Marohn and Daniel Herriges is also shown.

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 18/11/2025

You can't paper over fragility with longer loans. You can’t make homes affordable by making debt cheaper. You can’t solve a local housing crisis with national financial engineering.

Text reads: “In 2024, Charles Marohn wrote about the possibility of a 40-year mortgage in this piece: The 30-Year Mortgage Was Bad. The 40-Year Mortgage Will Be Even Worse. And he said: ‘It is worth noting, again, that the 30-year mortgage is one of the worst financial products imaginable. That is why it didn't occur naturally, why the federal government had to create the market for them. It is also why the federal government has had to prop up this market over and over through a series of housing bubbles, each one larger than the last.’”

A graphic with a key highlighted in light blue. Text reads: “Just look at the math. On a 40-year mortgage, after ten years you’ve barely chipped off 8% of the principal. A 50-year mortgage is even worse. That’s not building equity. That’s renting from a bank for half a century.”

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 18/11/2025

Last week, the Trump administration announced support for a 50-year mortgage. Except, this won't make housing more attainable, more affordable, more stable.

A graphic with a key highlighted in light blue. Text reads: “Last week, the Trump administration announced support for a 50-year mortgage. If you care about housing affordability, here's why this doesn't help.”

A graphic with a key highlighted in light blue. Text reads: “Stretching a mortgage from 20 to 30 to 40…to 50 years…doesn’t make a home cheaper. It makes an expensive home look temporarily more attainable. But really, we're just stretching debt.”

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Strong Towns @strongtowns.org · 17/11/2025

This project highlights a broken infrastructure funding system: In the 2000s, Chester, PA officials pitched a revitalization plan centered around a waterfront soccer stadium, speculative development, and two new highway ramps to improve access from I-95.

Photo of the 1-95 ramps in Chester, Pennsylvania. The $77 million “award winning” ramps are circled. An arrow points to another access point half a mile away. This is meant to show how little, if anything, was gained by this project.

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We addressed these questions in a Strong Towns Member Exclusive Event. To get access to this, and future exclusives, become a member today: buff.ly/ohcZXTp

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1. Highways don’t address local transportation needs. 2. Highways are a liability. 3. Highways destroy financial productivity. 4. Highway development is driven by top-down priorities.

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We built highways to connect our towns. But then we never stopped building them, even when the interstate highway system was finished. This is because we fundamentally misunderstand crucial facts about highways:

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“Tell me why I’m full of crap, over coffee.” In 2024, Strong Towns Member Tristan Cleveland posted that message to his local subreddit. He wrote about issues like bike lanes and congestion charges for the local paper, and his opinions were not popular.

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Strong Towns can help your city become Housing-Ready. Members get first looks and early access to toolkits, videos, and more. Become a member today: buff.ly/gOsUntb

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3. A healthy housing market is built by many hands—and it works. When you legalize and support incremental development, you unlock the power of many hands working together to solve the housing crisis.

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2. Cities must address regulations that block bottom-up responses to housing needs. Most cities have zoning codes and building regulations that stunt the local housing market. It’s a huge barrier for small-scale developers, homeowners, and local builders who want to add housing.

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To address the housing crisis from the bottom-up, we must understand: 1. We are in a Housing Trap. Housing is an investment. Investment prices must go up. Housing is shelter. When the price of shelter goes up, people experience distress.

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