Metropolitics

Regulating Basement Conversions in New York City

Ooha Uppalapati — 2023-07-14T05:00:00Z

Ooha Uppalapati examines the regulation of basement apartments in New York City and the implications of proposed laws for both homeowners and tenants.
On August 30, 2022, the Comptroller of New York City, Brad Lander, released a report titled Bringing Basement Apartments into the Light. The report, which lists recommendations for the provision of “basic rights, responsibilities, and protections of basement apartment residents and owners” (NYC Comptroller 2022) marked the one-year anniversary

- From the Field / housing, New York City housing policy, accessory dwelling units, housing policy, basements, New York

The Second Coming of the Accessory Dwelling Unit

Joseph Weil Huennekens — 2021-10-26T05:00:00Z

Joseph Weil Huennekens discusses the history of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in the context of housing in the suburbs, and argues that fair housing requires more than ADU legalization.
Planners and advocates have long promoted accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as a solution to the affordable housing crisis. According to proponents, ADUs are a low-impact way to unleash new production—a corrective to years of racist housing policy that have kept multifamily options out of the suburbs (Kazis

- Debates / urban planning, land-use planning, housing, housing policy, suburbs, accessory dwelling units, Long Island, New York

“Soft densification” in Canada

Anastasia Touati & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-06-05T09:41:09Z

Against the backdrop of a housing crisis, a number of local authorities in Ontario, Canada, have developed policies to encourage the creation of “accessory apartments” or “secondary suites” – in other words, new dwellings within single-family homes. Anastasia Touati analyses the advantages, as well as the ambiguities, of this novel form of residential densification.
Urban densification: a range of possibilities
For the last 15 years, densification has been at the heart of sustainable urban

- From the Field / housing, density, housing estates, Canada, densification, subdivisions, crisis, affordable housing, accessory dwelling units