Welcoming Neighbors Network

An empty office tower could get a second life as 59 affordable homes for older adults. 🏢 A Des Moines redevelopment proposal just cleared an important hurdle. It's a creative example of how communities can rethink existing spaces to make room for more neighbors.

Not every household needs the same kind of home. 🏘️ Salt Lake City is considering zoning changes that would make it easier to build duplexes, townhomes, and smaller houses.

A staircase rule can make the difference between building more homes or leaving a lot empty. 🪜 San Francisco is easing some requirements for smaller apartment buildings, but advocates say the reforms could go further. The details matter when we're making room for more neighbors.

Teachers. Caregivers. Service workers. 🧑‍🏫 The people who keep Florida running deserve homes they can afford. New research from WNN member Florida Housing Coalition finds that 8 of the state's 10 most common jobs don't pay enough to comfortably rent a two-bedroom home. Let's make room.

Seattle is making room for more neighbors! 🏘️ New zoning rules now allow at least 4 homes on most residential lots, with additional options near transit and incentives for accessible homes. That's what expanding housing choices can look like when cities change the rules.

More room for family. More housing choices. 🔑

Good housing ideas deserve to travel. 🧳 A new initiative will help up to 30 cities learn from housing reforms in San Diego, Austin, and Atlanta. From faster approvals to more home choices, cities don't always have to start from scratch to make progress.

In New Hampshire, housing costs drive 22% of child poverty. 📊 Our friends at Housing Action NH are connecting the dots between the state's housing shortage and families struggling to afford a home. More homes mean more opportunities for people to thrive.

Allowing backyard homes is step one. Helping people actually build them matters too. 🧰 Five states are using grants, financing, fee relief, and technical assistance to help turn the option of an ADU into an actual home.

What if a small elevator could help more people stay in the neighborhoods they love? 🛗 @sightline.org explores how making elevators easier to install in smaller apartment buildings could give more older adults the freedom to age in their communities.

Zoning and permitting aren’t the only rules that shape housing costs. 🏗️ We're looking back at this research showing how building-code changes can raise construction costs and, in turn, the rents needed to make new homes pencil.

More starter homes could be coming to Massachusetts! 📏 Question 7 would allow smaller starter homes on smaller lots, opening the door to more home choices for people across the state.

New Mexico’s pro-housing movement is growing! 🌱 A new statewide coalition is gearing up for 2027, building on work from Homewise to unlock more home choices across the state.

Changing zoning is only part of the equation. 🏗️ New Boston Indicators research finds that discretionary permitting can delay or derail housing even where zoning already allows it. The report examines six Massachusetts projects and where the process gets stuck.

Kids do better when families have a stable place to call home. 📚 Our friends at @urbanphxproject.bsky.social show how one Arizona school district is connecting the dots between housing and student success.

Five years to build an apartment building?! ⏳ New research finds huge differences in how quickly cities turn housing applications into actual homes. Faster, more predictable processes can help more homes get built.

Maryland faces a housing "escalator": build more homes, and everyone trades up. Build too few, and high housing costs push out the most vulnerable. Helping residents go up or down that escalator is a policy choice. 🏛️

Talk about an appetite for more home choices! Among NH voters: ➡️ 74% say YES to starter homes ➡️ 63% say YES to zoning reforms that allow more homebuilding ➡️ 74% say YES to smaller lots Build the homes, NH.

✅ Pro-housing policy = anti-poverty strategy New Pew research makes it plain to see and names 10 states where fixing the housing shortage would significantly reduce poverty. 📉

The housing affordability report card is in. What separates the “A” metros from the “F” metros? Hint: it’s not saying no to more homes. 😁

Texas buried a Jim Crow-era law that gave NIMBYs outsized power to block new homes. Now cities and towns have more leeway to say yes to more homes. ⚖️

Love to see it: Akron is reworking outdated lot size rules so vacant land can become homes again. 📐🏘️

Gentle but mighty. 🦋 Boulder’s new comp plan unlocks ADUs, duplexes, and more modest home types across the city.

The fees cities charge builders can make homes a lot more expensive. 💸 @ternerhousing.bsky.social’s new report shows local governments how to strike a better balance. Excited to dig in! 📄

Bringing different voices to the same table to figure out what's actually needed to build more homes in Milwaukee. Love this ⭐

The ROAD to Housing Act is a roadmap, but states and cities have to drive. WNN member Housing Hawai‘i’s Future lays out how Hawai‘i can do its part to make it easier to build more homes or risk leaving federal money on the table. 💸

⭐ More than 60% ⭐ of Denver voters want duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes in their neighborhoods. WNN member @housingfwdco.bsky.social digs into the polling and what comes next when City Council votes on "Unlocking Housing Choices." 🎧

Idaho legalized ADUs statewide. Boise is making them easier to build with free pre-approved plans and streamlined permitting. Great case of state reform creating a floor and local leaders raising it. ⬆️

Ahead of the November ballot, 63% of Massachusetts voters support Question 7 to legalize starter homes on smaller lots. Bay Staters know what the housing shortage feels like, and they're ready for real solutions. 🗳️

New Mexico is the last state in the Southwest without statewide permitting reform. In a new report, the Mercatus Center and WNN member Homewise find the housing bottlenecks and offer a menu of best practices to fix them. 🧰

The DMV ranks 10th for "shadow buyers": employed 25-39 year olds who are eager to buy a home but are priced out of the market. Time to build more homes so they can become real buyers. 🏘️

“What happens when there’s not enough slack in the system is that people can’t find the housing types that they need at a certain given point in time." WNN member Let's Build Homes makes the case for housing policy flexible enough to keep up with how Vermonters actually live. 🎯

Built in a factory, but it looks just like the house next door. Manufactured homes have come a long way, and Virginia, Idaho, and now federal housing law are making it easier to build them anywhere. 🏡 🏗️

Asheville notched a 👏 BIG 👏 win! City Council approved: ✅ duplexes in all residential areas ✅ larger ADUs to allow more design flexibility and lower costs More home choices for more families, thanks to the hard work of WNN member MountainTrue and partners!

When a young couple with steady jobs can't find a starter home in the neighborhood they grew up in, inaction isn't an option. WNN member @wasatchalc.bsky.social says an upcoming hearing is Salt Lake City's chance to act.

A new poll shows Maine voters across the political spectrum agree: housing is their 👉️ top 👈️ concern, and the state needs to take action to address it. 📊 Who will act?

Residents in Denton, TX, let city council know: we can have parking mandates, or we can have more homes, businesses, and healthier neighborhoods. The choice is clear. ✅

Passing the ROAD to Housing Act was only half the job. WNN member Groundwork is making sure Arkansas finishes the work. 🧰 🏗️

Asheville votes today on legalizing duplexes citywide and expanding ADUs. It's already a big year for housing in NC; this would make it even bigger. ⛰️🤩

Grandparents steps from grandkids. Built-in childcare. Families growing together. ADUs make it possible. ❤️

There's "Don't build; it'll change the neighborhood." 🤔 And then there's "Don't build, and we'll have to leave." 😔 WNN member @wasatchalc.bsky.social is showing that "neighborhood character" isn't worth much if your neighbors can't afford to live there.

Texas suburbs are fighting new housing laws with... Olympic-sized pool requirements. Families need homes, not lap lanes. 🙄

More of this kind of bold, practical leadership. 👍

Plenty of parking? More like plenty of open space, walkable paths, and stormwater that actually drains. 🌱 A Pennsylvania town is rethinking its costly parking mandates.

Miami isn't waiting for the state to act on starter homes; it wrote its own Cottage Home Ordinance. A model for local leadership and a step in the right direction for more homes. ✅

Asheville's Planning and Zoning Commission just backed expanding duplexes and townhomes in residential areas! Great news for a city that needs more homes. 🎉 🏘️

Family support is a beautiful thing when it's a choice. Let's build more homes so families can choose to help, not have to.

Austin's building code treats a fourplex like a warehouse. Now, the city looks to join peers like Dallas and Shelby County, TN, in fixing that. 🧰

"The ache for home lives in all of us." Connecticut families are living that ache. An op-ed makes the case for why state and local leaders need to do their part so everyone has a safe place to call home.

Pennsylvania needs 185,000 more homes over the next decade. The state budget delivered a housing database. Lawmakers and advocates are calling this a missed opportunity, and they're right.