The AMI Is Going to Kill Us Why "Just Build More Housing," Supply-Side Economics, and Deregulation Aren't Fixing the Housing Crisis

"Just build more housing" has become the “nonpartisan” answer to the housing crisis. Yet, this seems like the wrong answer.

This week on Auto Asphyxiation, we challenge the idea that zoning reform alone can create affordable, sustainable communities. We dive into the politics of the HUD Area Median Income formula for affordable housing, which a huge swath of unpartnered women and racialized people don't make enough money to qualify for, meaning they are too poor for affordable housing. We examine who today's housing policies actually serve, and explore why affordability and transit-oriented development cannot be separated from questions of class, exclusion, and power.

We also argue a reality many policymakers (and urbanists) still avoid- neoliberalism- needs to die, and on a planet on fire, sprawl is going to kill all of us. Sustainable is no longer a "nice to have." We can no longer solve the housing problem with the séance of supply-side economics. That means we have to talk about more than zoning and deregulation.