Barbara Samuels
@bsamuels72.bsky.social
Unleashed, not retired. Fair Housing & Affordable Housing attorney. Orioles, Ravens true believer. WV mountains, Cape waters, but Baltimore is still home. Repost is not endorsement etc
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
NEW: A coalition of nonprofits and local governments has filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration's cuts to housing programs, warning the move will imperil support for 170,000 people and "force children, adults, and families back into homelessness, beginning in the upcoming winter months."
December 1, 2025 at 9:59 PM
NEW: A coalition of nonprofits and local governments has filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration's cuts to housing programs, warning the move will imperil support for 170,000 people and "force children, adults, and families back into homelessness, beginning in the upcoming winter months."
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
“Parking adds both construction cost and opportunity cost due to land value being tied up in parking rather than housing. Those expenses get passed on to residents (renters or buyers)….”
Fact check: true.
ggwash.org/view/101633/...
Fact check: true.
ggwash.org/view/101633/...
To spur housing construction, Baltimore ends parking minimums
Opinion: Parking minimums are expensive and hamper new housing. A new law in Baltimore City is right to do away with them.
ggwash.org
December 2, 2025 at 1:55 AM
“Parking adds both construction cost and opportunity cost due to land value being tied up in parking rather than housing. Those expenses get passed on to residents (renters or buyers)….”
Fact check: true.
ggwash.org/view/101633/...
Fact check: true.
ggwash.org/view/101633/...
A lot of posts on here very critical of lotteries as method to manage demand for scarce Affordable Housing units. But its more fair & transparent than most alternatives— including the “Vulnerability Index” algorithm HUD mandates to ration access unhoused individuals & families to housing supports.
Commentary:
"I have spent much of the past decade working in and studying homeless services in Philadelphia ....
I have found while the city has succeeded in centralizing services to support unhoused people, there remain major bureaucratic challenges ... "
"I have spent much of the past decade working in and studying homeless services in Philadelphia ....
I have found while the city has succeeded in centralizing services to support unhoused people, there remain major bureaucratic challenges ... "
Automated systems decide which homeless Philadelphians get housing and who stays on the street • Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Supportive housing programs combine a housing subsidy with wraparound supportive services that help a person remain stably housed.
penncapital-star.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:43 PM
A lot of posts on here very critical of lotteries as method to manage demand for scarce Affordable Housing units. But its more fair & transparent than most alternatives— including the “Vulnerability Index” algorithm HUD mandates to ration access unhoused individuals & families to housing supports.
Deeply affordable housing should be recognized as a key part of any effective public safety strategy.
Provided alt text.
Good food for thought, if anyone ever listened to the people affected by our carceral state.
Good food for thought, if anyone ever listened to the people affected by our carceral state.
December 1, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Deeply affordable housing should be recognized as a key part of any effective public safety strategy.
Concerning but no surprise: LAs TOD reforms enabled more income-restricted buildings in lower-income neighborhoods. This reinforces segregation in types of areas where subsidized housing already overconcentrated & narrow transit corridors. Instead broadly lower zoning barriers to Affordable Housing.
Transit-oriented development incentives aim to address housing affordability by encouraging density near transit. In her new Meyer Fellowship paper, Stephanie Kestelman @arnoldventures.bsky.social examines the impacts of one such program in Los Angeles.
www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/transit...
www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/transit...
Transit-Oriented Incentive Programs and Multifamily Housing: Evidence from Los Angeles
www.jchs.harvard.edu
December 1, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Concerning but no surprise: LAs TOD reforms enabled more income-restricted buildings in lower-income neighborhoods. This reinforces segregation in types of areas where subsidized housing already overconcentrated & narrow transit corridors. Instead broadly lower zoning barriers to Affordable Housing.
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
Obviously "mass deportation will lower housing costs" was never a real argument but @mtkonczal.bsky.social crunched the numbers. Get ready to for crimes against humanity to save you a two liter of shasta mikekonczal.substack.com/p/mass-depor...
Mass Deportation Will Save Renters Less Than $5 a Month
President Trump wants to deport his way to affordability. But immigration can’t explain the housing crisis, and deportation won’t fix it.
mikekonczal.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Obviously "mass deportation will lower housing costs" was never a real argument but @mtkonczal.bsky.social crunched the numbers. Get ready to for crimes against humanity to save you a two liter of shasta mikekonczal.substack.com/p/mass-depor...
Who benefits & is behind these scare tactics about density? For decades Baltimore has been alarmed by the impact of population loss as properties were abandoned & n-hoods emptied out. Now all n-hoods are suddenly supposed to fear density?
This one is even more brazen, because this time they put their words in the mouth of an AI character who claims to be a specific person: "Zoe Billings, a Baltimore native and correspondent"
Needless to say, this person does not exist.
Needless to say, this person does not exist.
December 1, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Who benefits & is behind these scare tactics about density? For decades Baltimore has been alarmed by the impact of population loss as properties were abandoned & n-hoods emptied out. Now all n-hoods are suddenly supposed to fear density?
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
i don't know what it will take for planners to understand that noise pollution, air pollution, and unsafe streets are not the sorts of places we should be focusing dense and affordable housing
this isn't even a major arterial - and look how loud it is midday on a friday.
this isn't even a major arterial - and look how loud it is midday on a friday.
January 3, 2025 at 8:50 PM
i don't know what it will take for planners to understand that noise pollution, air pollution, and unsafe streets are not the sorts of places we should be focusing dense and affordable housing
this isn't even a major arterial - and look how loud it is midday on a friday.
this isn't even a major arterial - and look how loud it is midday on a friday.
Article gives key context: Public housing often segregated by race until the 1968 Fair Housing Act passed. Shortly after, Nixon issued moratorium on future PH construction & 1990s-era federal program to rebuild and modernize PH replaced only 1/2 the units it tore down. Thousands of units were lost.
November 30, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Article gives key context: Public housing often segregated by race until the 1968 Fair Housing Act passed. Shortly after, Nixon issued moratorium on future PH construction & 1990s-era federal program to rebuild and modernize PH replaced only 1/2 the units it tore down. Thousands of units were lost.
Johns Hopkins study shows receipt of housing subsidies leads to more timely diagnosis & treatment of cancer in older adults.
‘And it’s not just cancer. Other research finds stable, quality and affordable housing contributes to better health & well-being & often means better access to health care.’
‘And it’s not just cancer. Other research finds stable, quality and affordable housing contributes to better health & well-being & often means better access to health care.’
Federal housing subsidies can save lives. They’re at risk of being cut anyway.
Federal housing subsidies can save lives. They’re at risk of being cut anyway.
A Bloomberg study found a new link between housing and health care.
buff.ly
November 30, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Johns Hopkins study shows receipt of housing subsidies leads to more timely diagnosis & treatment of cancer in older adults.
‘And it’s not just cancer. Other research finds stable, quality and affordable housing contributes to better health & well-being & often means better access to health care.’
‘And it’s not just cancer. Other research finds stable, quality and affordable housing contributes to better health & well-being & often means better access to health care.’
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
Companies with this much extra money should be paying workers a lot more, building affordable housing, funding healthcare & addressing climate change.
Tech companies are pouring billions into AI chips and data centers. Increasingly, they are relying on debt and risky tactics. Financial analysts are worried there's a bubble that will soon pop.
Here's why concerns about an AI bubble are bigger than ever
Tech companies are pouring billions into AI chips and data centers. Increasingly, they are relying on debt and risky tactics. Financial analysts are worried there's a bubble that will soon pop.
n.pr
November 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Companies with this much extra money should be paying workers a lot more, building affordable housing, funding healthcare & addressing climate change.
‘Planners can assert the ethics of the planning profession in debates about zoning practices. Efforts to dismantle exclusionary zoning can return to their roots in housing advocacy, part of a multipronged agenda aimed at expanding housing opportunity.’
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
‘Planners can assert the ethics of the planning profession in debates about zoning practices. Efforts to dismantle exclusionary zoning can return to their roots in housing advocacy, part of a multipronged agenda aimed at expanding housing opportunity.’
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Thank you. It should go w/o saying but needs to be said, over & over. Neither the market nor the gov’t have capacity to meet the full spectrum of housing needs & incomes.
Just a reminder. Just b/c new market-rate housing opens up units (good thing usually, if aren’t physically displacing low-cost units), including lower-cost units, 1) doesn’t mean that all those units will all go to low-income households; 2) doesn’t provide long-term, stable, deeply affordable units.
November 28, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Thank you. It should go w/o saying but needs to be said, over & over. Neither the market nor the gov’t have capacity to meet the full spectrum of housing needs & incomes.
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
this plus CT's single stair reform = big housing wins
Great news! Connecticut governor Ned Lamont, a noted coward, has finally located his big-boy pants and signed the legislature's amazing, ambitious housing bill. Among other things, it nukes parking mandates!
Gov. Lamont signs much-debated CT affordable housing bill after vetoing previous version
The bill is Connecticut's most significant housing legislation in decades.
www.ctinsider.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:45 PM
this plus CT's single stair reform = big housing wins
Since 1970, various forms of downzoning have dominated local land use policies. This study of Chicago finds “downzoning has contributed to reduced housing availability in high-demand neighborhoods, while reinforcing class and racial segregation.”
What happens when you downzone?
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Downzoning Chicago: How Local Land Use Policy Has Reduced Housing Construction and Reinforced Segregation | Published in Findings
By Yonah Freemark, George Kisiel. Downzonings were used by US cities in the postwar period to preserve neighborhood character. These land-use policies were associated with lower housing supply, higher...
findingspress.org
November 27, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Since 1970, various forms of downzoning have dominated local land use policies. This study of Chicago finds “downzoning has contributed to reduced housing availability in high-demand neighborhoods, while reinforcing class and racial segregation.”
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
NEW: “The strategy [building homes for millennials who hadn’t had kids yet] worked — until millennials aged out of it. As they now enter their 30s-40s & start having children, they’re ditching cities where the housing stock never caught up to their changing needs.”
Bad strategy. Design for kids.
Bad strategy. Design for kids.
Cities made a bet on millennials — but forgot one key thing
Can cities learn to love kids again?
www.vox.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:56 PM
NEW: “The strategy [building homes for millennials who hadn’t had kids yet] worked — until millennials aged out of it. As they now enter their 30s-40s & start having children, they’re ditching cities where the housing stock never caught up to their changing needs.”
Bad strategy. Design for kids.
Bad strategy. Design for kids.
Live pretentiously!
“A resort lifestyle awaits”
in 6BRs, 6.5 bathrooms & 6 garage bays, w/ pool, all on septic.
Close to Hunt Valley & I-83 yet outside the Baltimore Co URDL redline that makes it illegal to build modest housing while allowing 10,000 sq ft faux-Georgian estates.
redf.in/G73CMV
“A resort lifestyle awaits”
in 6BRs, 6.5 bathrooms & 6 garage bays, w/ pool, all on septic.
Close to Hunt Valley & I-83 yet outside the Baltimore Co URDL redline that makes it illegal to build modest housing while allowing 10,000 sq ft faux-Georgian estates.
redf.in/G73CMV
8 Glenberry Ct, Phoenix, MD 21131 - 6 beds/6.5 baths
(BRIGHT MLS) For Sale: 6 beds, 6.5 baths ∙ 10540 sq. ft. ∙ 8 Glenberry Ct, Phoenix, MD 21131 ∙ $1,850,000 ∙ MLS# MDBC2146640 ∙ Coming Soon: Live authentically. Stately Brick Manor Home set on 5.14 acr...
redf.in
November 27, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Live pretentiously!
“A resort lifestyle awaits”
in 6BRs, 6.5 bathrooms & 6 garage bays, w/ pool, all on septic.
Close to Hunt Valley & I-83 yet outside the Baltimore Co URDL redline that makes it illegal to build modest housing while allowing 10,000 sq ft faux-Georgian estates.
redf.in/G73CMV
“A resort lifestyle awaits”
in 6BRs, 6.5 bathrooms & 6 garage bays, w/ pool, all on septic.
Close to Hunt Valley & I-83 yet outside the Baltimore Co URDL redline that makes it illegal to build modest housing while allowing 10,000 sq ft faux-Georgian estates.
redf.in/G73CMV
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
Baltimore checking just behind Vegas and Miami. If you know, you know.
Bluesky: “Obviously the housing crisis is the only reason anyone would choose to live outside of NYC”
Actual Americans: “Vegas, baby!”
Actual Americans: “Vegas, baby!”
November 25, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Baltimore checking just behind Vegas and Miami. If you know, you know.
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
We don't built apartments for families.
Look at the distribution of units built in Bellevue, Washington. In buildings since 2010 with more than 20 units ... over 70% of new units are Studio or 1BRs, and less than 2% have 3+ bedrooms
Look at the distribution of units built in Bellevue, Washington. In buildings since 2010 with more than 20 units ... over 70% of new units are Studio or 1BRs, and less than 2% have 3+ bedrooms
November 25, 2025 at 5:32 PM
We don't built apartments for families.
Look at the distribution of units built in Bellevue, Washington. In buildings since 2010 with more than 20 units ... over 70% of new units are Studio or 1BRs, and less than 2% have 3+ bedrooms
Look at the distribution of units built in Bellevue, Washington. In buildings since 2010 with more than 20 units ... over 70% of new units are Studio or 1BRs, and less than 2% have 3+ bedrooms
Rents have been rising for all tenants, but study finds poorest renters are experiencing much more significant increases. From 2021 to 2025, unsubsidized Class C& D workforce housing rents increased at 2.2x rate of luxury rents.
pestakeholder.org/reports/the-...
pestakeholder.org/reports/the-...
The Poorest Renters, the Sharpest Increases: Examining the Rent Crisis in Workforce Housing
From 2021 to 2025, there was more than a 20% increase in rents at workforce housing apartments, the lowest-rent sector of market-rate housing.
pestakeholder.org
November 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Rents have been rising for all tenants, but study finds poorest renters are experiencing much more significant increases. From 2021 to 2025, unsubsidized Class C& D workforce housing rents increased at 2.2x rate of luxury rents.
pestakeholder.org/reports/the-...
pestakeholder.org/reports/the-...
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
This piece is as good as people say it is. A fierce critique of zoning, by the former executive director of the zoning office in Baltimore.
"Why I lost faith in zoning." tinyurl.com/5n8sh428 Baltimore’s former zoning board executive director, on why she supports @mayorbmscott.bsky.social bills to promote more density and multi-family housing in the city. [OP-ED]
Baltimore’s former zoning board director explains why she lost faith in zoning | Baltimore Brew
The mayor’s “Housing Options and Opportunity” legislation – including Bill 25-0066 – will go a long way toward fixing an unfair system. [OP-ED]
tinyurl.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:23 AM
This piece is as good as people say it is. A fierce critique of zoning, by the former executive director of the zoning office in Baltimore.
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
This article on public participation in land use/planning decision-making bears on the current Baltimore City debate about a broad-reaching residential zoning bill. In short, is more participation better than a clearer definition about the purpose of public participation?
@caseybanderson.bsky.social, a person who knows from public meetings, issues this treatise on why public meetings don't work and how they can work better
Opinion: The problem at public meetings isn't who shows up, but the roles that the people at public meetings are expected to play
November 24, 2025 at 11:41 PM
This article on public participation in land use/planning decision-making bears on the current Baltimore City debate about a broad-reaching residential zoning bill. In short, is more participation better than a clearer definition about the purpose of public participation?
Yes! Family sized housing must be about the families who are the backbone of cities, not just millenials as they mature.
‘Gov’t must change how they measure the success of publicly supported housing. Dont just focus on maximizing new units built—prioritize the # of bedrooms & people housed.’ 1/
‘Gov’t must change how they measure the success of publicly supported housing. Dont just focus on maximizing new units built—prioritize the # of bedrooms & people housed.’ 1/
November 24, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Yes! Family sized housing must be about the families who are the backbone of cities, not just millenials as they mature.
‘Gov’t must change how they measure the success of publicly supported housing. Dont just focus on maximizing new units built—prioritize the # of bedrooms & people housed.’ 1/
‘Gov’t must change how they measure the success of publicly supported housing. Dont just focus on maximizing new units built—prioritize the # of bedrooms & people housed.’ 1/
Residents of the older urban n-hoods of Baltimore Co subsidize the top 10% that live outside the URDL & the n-hoods inside the URDL zoned for low density.
Worse yet, because state law requires the City to provide water/sewer at cost to Baltimore Co, City customers subsidize suburban customers.
Worse yet, because state law requires the City to provide water/sewer at cost to Baltimore Co, City customers subsidize suburban customers.
WATCH: If you really STILL don’t understand how car-dependent suburbia is HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED by downtown & all the urban parts of your city, please watch this EXCELLENT video by #NotJustBikes helped by #UrbanThree & @StrongTowns.org. And then please SHARE it as much as possible. youtu.be/7Nw6qyyrTeI
November 22, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Residents of the older urban n-hoods of Baltimore Co subsidize the top 10% that live outside the URDL & the n-hoods inside the URDL zoned for low density.
Worse yet, because state law requires the City to provide water/sewer at cost to Baltimore Co, City customers subsidize suburban customers.
Worse yet, because state law requires the City to provide water/sewer at cost to Baltimore Co, City customers subsidize suburban customers.
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
The new HUD guidelines are cruel; designed to support an agenda, & harm vulnerable people while creating a pathway for grift. Walking back evidence-based Housing First & harm reduction policies in favor of psuedo-moralistic grandstanding is appalling & in some cases likely illegal. #StandUpFightBack
November 22, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The new HUD guidelines are cruel; designed to support an agenda, & harm vulnerable people while creating a pathway for grift. Walking back evidence-based Housing First & harm reduction policies in favor of psuedo-moralistic grandstanding is appalling & in some cases likely illegal. #StandUpFightBack