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Anika Singh Lemar

@anikasinghlemar.bsky.social
419 followers 658 following 153 posts

Some of my thoughts on what community development means and my affection for New Haven here: bit.ly/3AawrCb

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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Half of being a free range ish parent is knowing what age your child should lie and say they are when asked by an authority.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Absolutely.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
It is strange to call zoning reform the primary policy response but it is true that it is a key policy goal. Not because it alone can solve the housing crisis but because it is a necessary precondition to most of the other solutions, including the construction of government-built housing.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
In any event, whether or not I'm married to them, New Haven's state legislators ought to stand up against exclusionary zoning, I said more about that here: www.newhavenindependent.org/2026/07/21/o...
newhavenindependent.org
Opinion: New Haven's Leaders Must Continue To Defend Connecticut's Most Effective Affordable Housing Law - New Haven Independent
Yale Law School professor Anika Singh Lemar speaks up for 8-30g, in response to Justin Farmer's critique at a recent 92nd District debate.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I am pretty sure, Ethan, that if it were important you would have written your comment as, "It is important to disclose that Anika is married to a state representative because [insert a reason because I can't think of one]" rather than as a question.
Comment by "Ethan" on an op-ed I wrote in the New Haven Independent. Comment reads, "Isn't it important to disclose somewhere here that Anika is married to a state legislator?"
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
"This place isn’t nice because the houses are all old,” he says. “It’s nice because we’re very fortunate. It’s wealthy. It’s near the water. We’re not nice because there’s an old building with a plaque.”
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Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
We’re witnessing the single greatest energy transition since coal and instead of celebrating the adaptive refuse and carbon free abundant energy, CTs news outlets have blanketed the state with NIMBY anti solar talking points Absolute madness (of course it’s Haar) www.ctinsider.com/news/article...
ctinsider.com
Dan Haar: The rural CT neighborhood that could soon be surrounded by solar projects
"We built our home here because of the farmland, the peace, the quiet. We wanted to raise our kids here," Amanda Berube said.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
he wants accelerated rehab? so did his tenants.
Headline from the New Haven Independent: "Landlord Requests Accelerated Rehab"
Lede: "Jianchao Xu applies for pretrial diversionary program, in criminal housing court appearance related to state building code violation on Avon St."
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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 18/04/2026
The housing crisis is echoing across the nation. Our BUILD plan is one of the most comprehensive to tackle it — making it easier, faster, and more effective to build homes here.
chicagotribune.com
Gov. JB Pritzker’s ambitious housing plan for Illinois: More four-flats, looser rules
A cornerstone initiative from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker would loosen zoning restrictions for multiunit buildings, drawing excitement from housing advocates but concerns from local officials.
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Open New York @opennewyork.org · 31/03/2026
The current 12-game Jeopardy champion works at an affordable housing finance agency in NJ, and shamed New York for not building more housing: "NJ's doing really well, we're ahead of NY, CT, PA. If you're from one of those states, shame on you, build more housing."
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Deeply focused today on a very crucial part of the writing process. It goes by many names but I like to call it, um, "not writing."
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Having eminent domain'ed the land, a town is then under no obligation to build any actual housing so long as it pays an additionnal small fee eight years later.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
At the time a property owner files a zoning application for multifamily housing, they've secured site control and they've spent tens, more likely hundreds, of thousands of dollars on predevelopment. This bill would allow the municipality to force a sale at just 102% of land value.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Self-described property rights advocates in Connecticut want to give every local government an automatic option to purchase private property if its owner has the gall to propose building affordable housing on its own land. cga.ct.gov/2026/TOB/H/P...
cga.ct.gov
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Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
I wrote about the Epstein files (gift link) www.theverge.com/tech/874721/...
theverge.com
How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo
The emails show the “anti-woke” crusaders are afraid of accountability.
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Vox @vox.com · 04/02/2026
Apartments are safer and more affordable than single-family homes. Why do we treat them like a hazard? www.vox.com/future-perfe...
vox.com
The hidden double standards driving our housing crisis
Apartments are safer and more affordable than single-family homes. Why do we treat them like a hazard?
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
feeling a little bit too seen, @rolandlemar.bsky.social
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
"Here’s what I don’t get. The collective gnashing of teeth over the construction of developer-initiated housing in town." Preach, Greenwich.
greenwichtime.com
David Rafferty (opinion): More housing is just Greenwich changing with the times
'People want to live in Greenwich and we should have more options for entry-level and retirement-age buyers and renters,' columnist David Rafferty writes.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
I assume this is the sortof thing that (temporarily, one hopes?) derailed Tim Scott's bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act. A nominally libertarian organization questioning the relationship between supply and demand. www.cato.org/briefing-pap...
cato.org
The ROAD to More Federal Control: How Congress Is Misdiagnosing America’s Housing Problems
Overall, it is unlikely that the policies in the ROAD to Housing Act will satisfy many critics of federal housing policy over the past few decades.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
In any event, any talk of aesthetics-driven NIMBYism requires a shout out to Connecticut's own Arnold Karp: “I’ve driven by a lot of these peoples’ homes,” he said. “How do I say it? I don’t think they’re the arbiters of design in New Canaan.” www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/r...
nytimes.com
A Wall Divides a Connecticut Town (Published 2019)
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
In any event, any talk of aesthetics-driven NIMBYism requires a shout out to Connecticut's own Arnold Karp: “I’ve driven by a lot of these peoples’ homes,” he said. “How do I say it? I don’t think they’re the arbiters of design in New Canaan.” www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/r...
nytimes.com
A Wall Divides a Connecticut Town (Published 2019)
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Idk, I am pretty sure that thinking it's your business whether someone else's house is ugly is NIMBYism.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
parts of it are good but any author who ends a book by suggesting that you can "solve" New Haven by Yale starting a center is deeply misguided and misinformed. plus there are two "other sides" of propsect and you wouldn't know it from the author's leering gare from the $$$$ side to his "other side"
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
gift link: Amid housing shortage, CT spends millions managing homelessness other ways
ctinsider.com
Amid housing shortage, CT spends millions managing homelessness other ways
Amid a housing shortage, Connecticut is spending millions managing homelessness through foster care, jails and ERs. Lawmakers say the issue can be solved.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Restaurant owners excited to serve more customers, public high school principals who see what their housing insecure students face, renters who would like to continue to live here, and homeowners who want even more people to enjoy the City we love: this is New Haven.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
I am reading the written testimony in support of Downtown for All, an upzoning of downtown New Haven supported by all three of its city council people and, yay, New Haven, honestly, your (our!) idealism and hospitality and just basic desire to make life better are so needed here in Connecticut.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
"Why can't blue states build housing?" asks USA Today in an article about Lamont's veto of 5002.
usatoday.com
Connecticut housing crisis persists as Governor Lamont vetoes reform bill
A law that would have encouraged new housing in Connecticut failed after local opponents mounted a campaign, leaving many advocates frustrated.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
The idea that there are talented and gifted 4 and 5 year olds is bonkers. Nothing makes people crazier than becoming parents.
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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Justice Kavanaugh: “If the person is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Thankfully this conversation is live and evolving, in part because thanks to YIMBY legislative wins, they are now forced to move some of their fights into the courtroom. Was really glad to be part of these conversations @yimbytown.bsky.social over the last couple of days.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
There is a real conversation to be had about YIMBYism and race and it's not that "the vibes are off." It's that it's taken YIMBYs a minute to connect their work to the racial justice movement that understood exclusionary zoning as a problem 75 years ago, decades before YIMBYs came to it.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
"The capacity of government to deliver is really important for all the flavors of abundance." Stephanie Pollack speaking to @yimbytown.bsky.social
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Hugh Bailey @hughsbailey.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
The good news here is that the governor knows there's a crisis and is laser-focused on getting a housing bill passed that will start to take on some of these systemic issues. right? Homelessness rises in CT as federal funding remains in flux ctmirror.org/2025/09/11/c...
ctmirror.org
Homelessness rises in CT as federal funding remains in flux
There were 3,735 people living in shelters or outside in CT in January 2025, compared to 3,410 in January 2024. That’s nearly a 10% increase.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Also made a plug for local public day care. #yimbytown
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Unexpectedly, North Dakota Gov Kelly Armstrong just told @yimbytown.bsky.social to advocate for forming state banks to finance affordable housing.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Great panel, depressing (though not surprising coming from New Eng) to hear that MBTA communities is dampening legislators' willingness to do more rather than inspiring them to iterate and continue progress. This is my fear here in CT.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Yep, I am in a standing only room, at a session on building codes, @yimbytown.bsky.social. No one call the fire marshal, please.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Love hearing from @billmckibben.bsky.social talking to @yimbytown.bsky.social about how it takes months to install solar panels in the US rather than days in Europe, Australia...15,000 America. municipalities, each with its own regulations and inspectors... sounds familiar!
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Like 150 people just booed and hissed Ned Lamont, pretty sure most of them had no idea who he was six hours ago. Totally well deserved. @yimbytown.bsky.social #yimbytown
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Zoning receivership is a phrase I have never heard before. Like it. @yimbytown.bsky.social #yimbytown
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Hearing from a Montana community land trust, originally focused on low and moderate-income households, that got YIMBY-pilled when they started getting pressure to build subsidized housing for families at 200% of median income. Sounds very familiar here in CT. #yimbytown @yimbytown.bsky.social
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
very excited to be in conversation with old friends and new, advocates and attorneys from California, New Jersey, DC, Massachusetts and, yes, Connecticut
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
also Monday!!
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Monday!!
Join me, YIMBYtown 2025, What role can lawyers play in advancing equitable zoning, September 15, New Haven, CT.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
I will for sure be citing Alan Mallach when I talk about the role of lawyers in zoning reform and theimportance of focusing advocacy efforts on enforcement state laws alongside some fabulous lawyers at two @yimbytown.bsky.social panels on Monday.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
"One of the major reasons why housing is so expensive in New York City is because so little housing is being built in its suburbs...To the extent that housing costs have moderated in Austin, it’s the result of the sum of urban and suburban production, not Austin’s growth alone."
thesapiensproject.substack.com
To sprawl or not to sprawl
But is that really the question?
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Connecticut's sortof prominent here. Not a good thing.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
congrats, shark officially jumped.
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Tony Ho Tran @tonyhotran.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
The shooting of Charlie Kirk was the 46th school shooting of the year. The 47th one happened moments afterwards. www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/u...
cnn.com
At least 2 students shot at a Denver-area high school, authorities say | CNN
At least two students have been shot at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
And these NIMBYs are who Gov Lamont thinks should lead our state's housing policy.
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