x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Who Killed the Starter Home?

Have you seen any starter homes for sale lately? Neither have we. In this podcast, we speak with experts and try to figure out why this humble first home is going extinct. We’ll be exploring if it is the politicians, wielding zoning laws like a murder weapon who killed the starter home? Or maybe the scaredy-cat planners and designers? Or the developers, armed with cookie-cutter plans and corporate indifference? Is it our convoluted tax policy that subsidies homeownership, but puts every tax

arts design

All Episodes

51:50

From Trenton's Struggles to Dreaming Forward

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/02/27

On this podcast we usually focus on housing policy, but we are taking some time to host special conversations with the candidates running for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. While our listeners outside of New Jersey may not care about this specific election, they may be fascinated to hear that we have 17 courageous people putting themselves in the spotlight and offering their vision and ideas for the future of their country. Housing issues are inevitably coming up, so we aren’t straying

en

57:52

New Energy for a New Generation: A Conversation with...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/02/20

On this podcast we usually focus on housing policy, but today we are starting a special series of conversations with the candidates running for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. While our listeners outside of New Jersey may not care about this specific election, they may be fascinated to hear that we have 17 courageous people putting themselves in the spotlight and offering their vision and ideas for the future of their country. Housing issues are inevitably coming up, so we aren’t straying

en

53:00

Welcoming A Plane Full of New Neighbors Every Day....

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/02/13

What do you do when the equivalent of a plane full of people moves to your city every single day — not tourists, but people coming to stay? Calgary experienced exactly that. A successful marketing campaign attracted new residents, and suddenly growth wasn’t theoretical — it was reality.In this episode, I spoke with Dr. Teresa Goldstein, Chief Planner and Director of Community Planning for the City of Calgary. We discuss why flexibility is the foundation of vibrancy, how making the language of

en

70:11

How the American Dream Got Stuck. Conversation with...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/02/06

Do you feel like something in our country is seriously broken right now? Like we’re losing a piece of what once made America optimistic and upwardly mobile — the belief that our future could be better than our past?Yoni Appelbaum has done the research, and the story he tells is unsettling but also hopeful. For most of American history, uniquely in the world, America’s secret sauce was the freedom to move toward opportunity. That mobility gave people the agency to shape their future and even their

en

48:56

Homelessness is a housing problem. Conversation with...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/01/30

In this episode, I talk with Gregg Colburn about why homelessness is not just a personal tragedy, but a policy failure. Professor Colburn has done the research. If we want fewer people on the street, we must create more homes. It’s not rocket science. We’ve tried it, and it works.

en

48:11

If Lawmakers Won't Act, Voters Will. Conversation...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/01/23

In this episode, I talk with Andrew Mikula, who is leading an effort to bring a ballot measure to voters in Massachusetts that would make it possible to create starter homes.Their proposal doesn’t seem too radical: if you have a plot of land the size of an NBA basketball court, or can create a lot of that size in an area with existing infrastructure, you should be allowed to build a home on it. Andrew walks through how his team is approaching this process and what it says about the state of our

en

70:13

Stop Pretending All Solutions are Equal. Conversation...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/01/16

In this episode, I speak with Luca Gattoni-Celli about why we can’t subsidize our way out of the housing crisis and how vacancy chains really work.We also unpack two issues that feel permanent but are actually new: today’s homelessness crisis and the growing immobility of people who are being pushed away from opportunity because they can’t afford to live anywhere near it.

en

64:07

Avoiding Conflict Does Not Build Consensus,...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/01/09

In this episode I spoke with Casey Anderson who for 8 years chaired the Montgomery County Maryland Planning Board. I came across his recent article "What are planning hearings for?" where he talks about problems he saw that make our public engagement process so dysfunctional.Casey offers suggestions, but we by no means came up with complete solutions. We hope that this is a start of the conversation.

en

55:47

Sustainability Starts With Flexibility. Conversation...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2026/01/02

In this episode, I spoke with Taizo Yamamoto, principal of Yamamoto Architects. They creating beautiful, sustainable housing in Vancouver. He shares how the flexibility of Vancouver’s zoning allows for innovative and green projects. I loved learning about mass timber structures and other ideas that could help create more sustainable buildings and vibrant neighborhoods.

en

64:55

Communism, Consumerism, and Rules that Make No Sense.

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/12/26

In this episode, I spoke with Alain Bertaud, urban economist and author of Order Without Design, whose career spans more than half a century planning cities across the globe, from communist systems to market economies. The incredible stories he shares illustrate why we are forced to consume more land and space, where the real hidden costs lie, and why common sense so often disappears in housing policy.Note: About 20 minutes into the recording, we experienced a technical issue that caused some

en

54:55

The Market Is Screaming. Zoning Isn’t Listening....

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/12/19

In this episode, I speak with Mike Hathorne, author of the new book The Great Housing Reversal and the New American Dream. We talk about how market signals are clear about the kinds of homes people actually want to live in, yet outdated zoning and rigid development models continue to deliver the opposite. If we want affordable, walkable, human-scale neighborhoods again, we have to start listening to the market instead of silencing it.

en

53:41

How States Actually Make Housing Happen -...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/12/12

This episode is a special one — our first recorded in front of a live audience on November 12th at the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority conference in Madison. I sat down with Elmer Moore, WHEDA’s executive director, to talk about re-imagining starter homes, the power of combining audacity with innovation, and how WHEDA is putting those words into action to make housing happen.

en

43:28

Imperfect and Incomplete: And Better for It....

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/12/05

In this episode, I talk with journalist Benjamin Schneider, author of The Unfinished Metropolis: Igniting the City-Building Revolution.We explore why cities need room to evolve and innovate, and how that mindset can help bring back starter homes and neighborhood-level creativity. We even dig into the question of where and why one would build an entirely new city and what is an "eco-district."

en

56:41

Sacred Places with Flexible Spaces. Conversation with...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/11/28

Every week, 75 to 100 churches close their doors. Some dilapidated buildings will slowly decay; others will become luxury condos with stained-glass windows. Our guest, pastor and property developer Mark Elsdon, isn’t waiting around. He’s building tools to help communities start early and grow something truly unique in God’s backyard — with patience, trust, and purpose.

en

65:09

Slime Mold Urbanism: Let People Make Mistakes,...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/11/21

I had so much fun speaking with Anthony Mattacchione and Raphael Kay.They apply what they learned from slime mold to architecture and planning. This fascinating single-cell organism sends pulses through its body and can build efficient networks that resemble cities and transportation systems, only more resilient! I learned that we need a bit of “individual stupidity” for bottom-up community design to work. And that digital twin-making for cities already exists! What are we going to learn from

en

50:49

The Real Climate Solution: Agency, Not Fear & Doom....

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/11/14

This episode is a little different. I switch roles and speak with Alex Margulis, a Princeton student and inspiring thinker who is researching and writing about climate, housing, and the power of agency.We talk about why sustainability shouldn’t be driven by fear, how housing can be one of the most impactful climate solutions, and explore practical ways students can turn their advocacy into real impact.

en

42:43

Want to Fix Housing? Start with A Happy Hour -...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/11/07

In this episode, I talk with Ned Resnikoff, former policy director at California YIMBY (a pro-housing nonprofit that stands for Yes in My Backyard). My favorite part of our conversation is Ned’s story of how a casual happy hour grew into a statewide movement that rewrote the rules on housing, zoning, and grassroots organizing.Ned is now a housing policy fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and a fiscal resilience fellow at California Forward, while also working on a new book with Island Press.

en

55:40

A House for Mom, Flexibility for All! Conversation...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/10/31

When architect and entrepreneur Carrie Shores Diller heard her clients tell their aging parents, “Oh, we’ll just put these temporary things up, and when you’re gone, we’ll take them back down,” she knew something had to change... That’s no way to face one’s mortality!In this episode, Carrie shares how her company, Inspired ADUs, has brought hundreds of new homes to life, and how California’s bold housing laws made it possible for these small, beautifully designed Accessory Dwelling Units to deliver

en

29:12

NIMBYism isn't a Phylosophy, YIMBYism IS!...

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/10/24

Economist Bryan Caplan reminds us that builders aren’t criminals, complainers are the minority, and there’s no way around it: we have to build more homes to meet demand.If you’ve already read too many boring articles on the subject, Professor Caplan has the solution: a scientific comic book. Turns out, it’s actually fun being a YIMBY!

en

51:26

The $500,000 Gamble: Why We Need Legislative Change....

Who Killed the Starter Home? ·

2025/10/17

In this episode, land use attorney Kevin Moore walks us through the nearly impossible process of getting a use variance. It’s easy to tell the owner of a failing strip mall or an abandoned office building: “just get a variance, no need for legislative change". But as Kevin explains, that’s practically impossible and borderline illegal... at least in New Jersey.

en

53 results

Similar Podcasts

Start The Breakthrough Full Audiobook Now, Thriller Fans!

thebookvoice.com

Get Hooked On The Life-Enhancing Full Audiobook Experience!

thebookvoice.com

西四五条

主播郑捕头

Podcast Patapoe

0d0a

On Mic Podcast

Jordan Rich