Upzoned

A Los Angeles couple set out to build a 400-square-foot backyard home for about $300,000, only to watch the final cost climb to $600,000 in a project recently profiled by Lisa Boone in the Los Angeles Times. Norm Van Eeden Petersman talks with Tamara White of Small Housing and Mary Coddington, founder of 12 Incorporated, about what pushed the cost so high. The couple chose an ambitious design and built on a difficult site, but they also had two major advantages many small housing projects never get: they already owned the land, and they were allowed to build. If the land and permissions were already in place, what made the price skyrocket, and how much of that complexity could actually be removed? ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "A compact ADU built on a dramatic ridgeline ‘floats’ over L.A. and its Midcentury neighbor" by Lisa Boone, Latimes.com (August 2026) Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) Tamara White (LinkedIn) Mary Coddington (LinkedIn) Articles mentioned and Downzone: 'She couldn’t afford L.A. rent after law school. Her parents’ ADU came to the rescue' (Article) Courtenay Cohousing (Site) A Voter’s Guide to Asking Candidates about Housing (Site) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom. This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

An eight-mile gap keeps Los Angeles from having a continuous river bike route through the heart of the city. Voters approved hundreds of millions of dollars to help close it, but years of planning have pushed the project toward a possible billion-dollar price tag. Carlee Alm-LaBar is joined by transportation advocate Dave Snyder, Pasadena city councilmember and longtime local government leader Rick Cole, and Strong Towns chief technical advisor Edward Erfurt to examine how a straightforward connection became a megaproject. Flood control, emergency access, environmental concerns, neighborhood connections, labor requirements, and long-term reliability have each added something defensible to the plan. Meanwhile, a simpler path could reportedly close the entire gap with the money already available. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "The eight-mile gap in the L.A. River bike path downtown has a billion-dollar problem" by Mack Baysinger, Latimes.com (August 2026) Downzone: Start Your Farm: The Authoritative Guide to Becoming a Sustainable 21st-Century Farmer, by Ellen Polishuk and Forrest Pritchard (Site) the Movement Newsletter (Substack) Carlee Alm-LaBar (LinkedIn) Dave Snyder (LinkedIn) Rick Cole (LinkedIn) Edward Erfurt (LinkedIn) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom. This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

What if the easiest way to overcome opposition to new housing was simply to pay people to accept it? A recent article in The Atlantic argues that after state laws, packed public meetings, and economic appeals have failed to overcome local resistance, cash payments might succeed where persuasion has not. Chuck Marohn is joined by John Reuter, executive director of Strong Towns, and Dr. Chloe Groome, treasurer of Strong Towns Chicago, to test that idea against what they’ve seen in real neighborhoods. Their discussion turns to what happens when new neighbors are framed as a burden, and whether cash can do the work that persuasion, trust, and local relationships have failed to do. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "A Perfectly Crude Solution to America’s Housing Shortage" by Rogé Karma, Theatlantic.com (July 2026) Chuck Marohn (LinkedIn) John Reuter (LinkedIn) Dr. Chloe Groome (LinkedIn), Strong Towns Chicago (Site) Articles Mentioned and Downzone: The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt (Site) Farm To Taber (YouTube Channel) Stolen Revolution: Betrayal and Hope in Modern Iran by Yeganeh Torbati and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin (Site) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom. This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

Americans have been told that buying a home is one of the safest ways to secure their future. But when retirement depends on home values continuing to climb, affordability begins to look like a threat. Carlee Alm-LaBar is joined by Daniel Herriges, co-author of Escaping the Housing Trap, and Alli Thurmond-Quinlan, executive director of the Incremental Development Alliance. Together, they push beyond the idea that housing is simply an investment problem. Limited supply, narrow housing choices, transportation, retirement, and municipal finance are all tied into the same system, leaving people with fewer ways to find security at every stage of life. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "The Housing Crisis Is Also a Retirement Crisis" by Kyla Scanlon, Nytimes.com (July 2026) Downzone: From Strength to Strength, by Arthur C. Brooks (Site) Construction Physics (Substack) World Cup 2026 (Site) Carlee Alm-LaBar (LinkedIn) Daniel Herriges (LinkedIn) Alli Thurmond-Quinlan (LinkedIn) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom. This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.