The Citizen’s Housing and Planning Council and the Regional Plan Association have released a report that attemps to lay out a strategy to provide a balanced housing market for the metropolitan region. While the high cost of housing in the city can be interpreted as a sign of the value of living here, it also poses a threat to the economic growth of the region, the authors mantain. Among their suggestions are: to promote growth in smaller cities like Newark and Yonkers, a focus on affordable housing preservation rather than development, and upzoning in certain districts linked to the preservation of open space in others. Also, the authors view a need for the coupling of transportation planning with residential development and a need to disassociate school financing with property taxes. Furthermore, they call on the government to offer below market loans and grants in order to promote home ownership.

The report is availbe on the CHPC website under the ‘publications’ link in the column on the right.