The Utopías created by Mexico City’s borough of Iztapalapa are a brilliant example of collective amenity and a public infrastructure of care—and the most inspiring ongoing municipal project with which I‘m familiar. Every city should be learning from Iztapalapa and Mexico City With something like two million residents, Iztapalapa is the largest Mexico City borough. It’s also the poorest. The Utopías were promoted most significantly by @ClaraBrugadaM, who was Iztapalapa’s mayor before winning the election to be the next mayor of all of Mexico City

This is ridiculous. “Housing yes or no?” is an absurd & simplistic way to try to frame the debate. The actual conflicts: housing for whom, determined by whom, under what conditions, in what form, in what social and spatial contexts, with what tenure relations and power dynamics?

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1456012741039247371

The debate about market-rate housing isn’t “housing yes or no,” it’s specifically about the role of the market: should market mechanisms and actors be the sole determinants of housing, or should other factors matter (e.g. questions of environmental, social or political justice)?

“Rather than think of homelessness as a condition, lawmakers should protect those who live on the street in the same way that the Constitution…protects groups based on race, gender or religion.” On one hand yes; OTOH this risks essentializing homelessness nytimes.com/2021/11/01/opi… There is no question that discrimination against people experiencing homelessness must not be allowed. But it’s very important to see that homelessness is a (politically and economically produced) condition and not a category of person. To think otherwise invites stigmatization

A lot of hyper-ventilating in this piece, but it's just nonsense to claim that rent control in Berlin is a "disaster." Most rents have fallen! Flats are cheaper to buy "because real estate loses value if its future cash flows to landlords are capped." That's a feature, not a bug!

https://twitter.com/bopinion/status/1366700756821278720

And the supply of new flats in Berlin is outpacing that of other German cities!

If you self-identify as pro-urban & anti-NIMBY, why aren't you demanding more public housing? | shelterforce.org/2017/11/02/tim… "The affordable housing field shouldn’t cede the 'increasing the supply of housing' and 'freeing up units through filtering' arguments to the luxury developers" A lot of YIMBYs are replying to say that of course they support public housing! Surprised but delighted to discover that there are such huge numbers of municipal socialists in the YIMBY ranks