SBR-Authors Podcast: Finding True Happiness Through Acts of Kindness: A Conversation with Karen Olson
Creative Housing Solutions Pop Up Across Oregon
Affordable Housing on the Front Range: Inclusionary Housing Ordinances and the New Middle Income Housing Authority
Office-to-Apartment Conversions – A Good Idea, but Tricky to Pull Off (Audio)
Episode 15 | Hot! Hot! Hot! Don't get Burned by the Perils of Buying and Selling Residential Real Estate
California CRE to Expand in 2022
BOSTON—City Deploys Sensors to Combat Rat Infestations - Boston officials announced the implementation of a new rodent-tracking sensor system throughout the city to provide data on hotspots and measure the effectiveness of...more
We start our August Alert with some potentially very good news. The RENTAL Act, a bill to reform TOPA, passed its first vote by the DC Council on July 28, 2025. The RENTAL Act includes, among other things, a blanket exemption...more
Across the United States, empty office buildings have become a common sight. According to Moody’s Analytics, office vacancies are at their highest since the 1990s. The COVID hangover has left us with an abundance of vacant or...more
As discussed in our earlier post, California's CEQA landscape has rapidly, and potentially seismically, evolved with the passage of AB 130 and SB 131. This post focuses on the immediate creation of a new statutory exemption,...more
A major affordable housing development underway in Fairfax County, Virginia, is setting a new precedent for large-scale, multi-phase transactions in high-cost suburban markets. Located adjacent to the County’s Government...more
Assembly Bill (AB) 130 and Senate Bill (SB) 131, which became effective on June 30, 2025, are designed to bring sweeping change to California housing and infrastructure development across the state. Key provisions in the...more
BOSTON—City’s First Office-to-Residential Conversion Project Begins -Construction has officially begun on Boston’s first office-to-residential apartment conversions. This effort is a part of a City pilot program aimed at...more
When District of Columbia Council Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced the Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants and Landlords (RENTAL) Act, there were high hopes that much needed reform to the Tenant Opportunity to...more
Single-family-only zoning has officially ended in the City of Seattle. On May 27, 2025, the Seattle City Council passed CB 120969 to comply with RCW 36.70A.635, which requires adoption of development regulations allowing for...more
On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed into law a sweeping set of housing and infrastructure reforms as part of the 2025–2026 State Budget, marking one of the most significant overhauls of the California Environmental...more
On June 16, 2025, the San Diego City Council voted 5-4 to cap the number of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) that can be built on single-family lots. The decision reverses the City’s 2020 implementation of a program allowing...more
A roundup of news and multimedia from the Unfamiliar Terrain team: San Francisco - Mayor Lurie names new S.F. planning director (SF Chronicle): Sarah Dennis Phillips has been named the City’s planning director,...more
On June 20, 2025, the Adams Administration and the Department of City Planning (DCP) initiated public engagement for the 'Manhattan Plan,' a proposal to add 100,000 new homes in Manhattan over the next decade. The Plan aims...more
The San Diego City Council voted on March 4, 2025, to begin the process of revising its Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Bonus Program (ADU Bonus Program or Program), which has served, to date, as one of the state’s most...more
This year, over fifty bills were introduced in the Legislature that directly addressed a CEQA issue. Many died in committee, or failed to make it out of their respective houses. The vast majority of those that advanced sought...more
As spring begins to give way to summer, legislative activity shows no signs of cooling off. Our May TOPA Alert generated many questions and comments and a further update on the pending TOPA reform legislation is included...more
As part of an ongoing effort to address the affordable housing shortage, the Connecticut General Assembly has passed Senate Bill No. 1444 which is designed to facilitate the conversion of certain buildings to residential use....more
On June 4, 2025, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors approved a new Affordable Dwelling Unit Ordinance that becomes effective on Dec. 1, 2025. The ordinance, adopted under the authority of Virginia Code...more
On May 29, 2025, the Supreme Court held that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) — which requires federal agencies to analyze the environmental impacts of projects that they carry out, fund, or approve — does not...more
The New York City Council approved the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan (AAMUP) on May 28, 2025. This initiative represents a significant rezoning aimed at transforming a key corridor in Central Brooklyn, which has been zoned...more
BALTIMORE—City Seeks Return of Sports Betting Lawsuit to Local Court - The City of Baltimore is requesting that its consumer protection lawsuit against DraftKings and FanDuel be moved back to Baltimore City Circuit Court,...more
BALTIMORE—Bill Introduced to Address Housing Shortage- On Monday, Mayor Brandon Scott (D) introduced his Housing Options & Opportunity Act, which aims to expand zoning laws for multi-family homes and provide more housing...more
Available data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that Oregon is not meeting Gov. Tina Kotek’s housing production goal of 36,000 new homes per year, nor is it on pace to address the need identified by the 2024 Oregon...more
On April 21, 2025, the New York City Planning Commission (CPC) certified the city-led Long Island City Neighborhood Plan, known as OneLIC, into public review. OneLIC seeks to build on Long Island City’s status as one of...more
The City of Denver (“Denver”) released the first draft of its proposed amendment to the Denver Zoning Code (“Zoning Code”) known as Modernizing Parking Requirements Text Amendment (“Text Amendment”), in which it proposes...more