Who Killed the Starter Home?

Our latest episode was recorded live at the NJ Planning and Redevelopment Conference with Randi Moore, CEO of the Affordable Housing Alliance. We dove into a frustrating paradox: under normal circumstances the standard funding, rigid compliance rules, and hyper-fragmented municipal zoning completely freeze the pipeline for modest starter homes. But when a catastrophe strikes—like Hurricane Sandy—emergency recovery funds with more flexible rules suddenly act as a regulatory bypass cutting through the red tape. Featuring plenty of audience participation that we tried our best to include in the recording, we brainstormed how to bring forward-thinking, resilient, and community-centered housing to our neighborhoods today—without waiting for disaster funding

What do you do when the equivalent of a plane full of people moves to your city every single day — not tourists, but people coming to stay? Calgary experienced exactly that. A successful marketing campaign attracted new residents, and suddenly growth wasn’t theoretical — it was reality. In this episode, I spoke with Dr. Teresa Goldstein, Chief Planner and Director of Community Planning for the City of Calgary. We discuss why flexibility is the foundation of vibrancy, how making the language of zoning understandable helps cities grow gracefully, and what it looks like when government sees its role as a service provider rather than a gatekeeper.

In this episode, I talk with Gregg Colburn about why homelessness is not just a personal tragedy, but a policy failure. Professor Colburn has done the research. If we want fewer people on the street, we must create more homes. It’s not rocket science. We’ve tried it, and it works.

In this episode, I speak with Luca Gattoni-Celli about why we can’t subsidize our way out of the housing crisis and how vacancy chains really work. We also unpack two issues that feel permanent but are actually new: today’s homelessness crisis and the growing immobility of people who are being pushed away from opportunity because they can’t afford to live anywhere near it.

In this episode, I spoke with Taizo Yamamoto, principal of Yamamoto Architects. They creating beautiful, sustainable housing in Vancouver. He shares how the flexibility of Vancouver’s zoning allows for innovative and green projects. I loved learning about mass timber structures and other ideas that could help create more sustainable buildings and vibrant neighborhoods.