Building Permits
![Sprawl](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_1411582880.jpg.webp?itok=gs3PuYzp)
Colorado Erases Local Growth Limits
Colorado legislators passed a law earlier this year that preempts local limits on the number of building permits issued every year.
![Granny Flat](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/47094325894_f84a26e81e_c.jpg.webp?itok=FRyrLHb3)
Pre-Approved ADUs Now Available in Sacramento
The city of Sacramento is making it easier to develop accessory dwelling units.
![Rendering of white cottage-style ADU](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/Millie%2BGray_view%2B01_web.jpg.webp?itok=o2p_c94D)
Raleigh Launches Pre-Approved ‘ADU Gallery’
The city wants to streamline the process and lower construction costs for accessory dwelling units in order to boost the city’s housing supply without dramatically altering neighborhoods.
![A large group of glass covered skyscrapers rises above the Hudson River in Manhattan, with several new buildings under construction visible too.](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/Hudson-Yards.jpg.webp?itok=k997txVn)
Scandal: Large-Scale Developments Approved Without Architect's Involvement
A New York Times investigation has revealed evidence of a development company repeatedly misleading the New York City Department of Buildings.
![Back Yard](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_301902851.jpg.webp?itok=9EDewg03)
With Regulations Loosened, Granny Flat Construction Soars in California
Less restrictive permit laws and pre-fabricated, pre-approved building options are spurring more homeowners to build backyard additions.
![Multi-Tenant Housing](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/Rooming-Housing-Toronto.png.webp?itok=I6PkmDwS)
Searching for a Path to Legalized Rooming Houses
Toronto could legalize rooming houses, also known as multi-tenant or lodging houses, in an effort to bring the city's many unpermitted examples of this low-income affordable housing type up to humane standards of health and safety.
![Chicago, Illinois](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/Screen%20Shot%202020-05-18%20at%208.49.47%20AM.png.webp?itok=Lo5bTGni)
Kanye West Makes More Permitting Trouble in Chicago
Kanye West is renovating his childhood home on the South Side of Chicago, but hasn't always had the permits to do the work until after the fact.
![CEQA Droput](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/Kanyes-dome-homes-hero-1024x0-c-default.jpg.webp?itok=mdn13gug)
Kanye West's Unpermitted Vision for Housing Utopia Has Been Demolished
Kanye had 45 days to submit plans for the unpermitted buildings built on his property in Calabasas, California. Instead, the rapper tore the buildings down.
![Celebrity](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_514473973.jpg.webp?itok=jr3VUdcp)
Kanye West Lacks Permits for the Prototype Housing Units He Built
Kanye West's first foray into the development business is off to an inauspicious start.
![Down Payment](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/3827910_d0f2342361_o.jpg.webp?itok=NA6YI31p)
Housing Starts Hit Two-Year Low
Housing starts and permits are slowing nationwide. The current pace of construction would have been considered a trough in pre-recession economic cycles.
![Alamo Square](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_141108409.jpg.webp?itok=Diu2rH3o)
New Housing Construction Drops 41 Percent in San Francisco
Building permits aren't the same thing as new buildings, as San Francisco proved once again in 2018.
![California](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_517453054.jpg.webp?itok=x756UN4z)
Cheaper, Easier Affordable Housing Development Proposed in San Francisco
San Francisco Mayor London Breed is proposing major reforms of the permitting process for affordable housing and accessory dwelling unit projects in the city. The idea is that cheaper projects are much easier to build.
![Brooklyn Construction](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_430679248.jpg.webp?itok=W2rlGeMw)
False Construction Permits Go 'Unchecked' in New York
New York habitually lets property owners begin construction without disclosing that their buildings are rent-stabilized or occupied by tenants.
Building Boom: Study Reveals Effects of California's 2016 Accessory Dwelling Units Law
Permits have shot up after California passed a landmark law in 2016 to make it easier to permit and construct accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
![Housing Construction](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_90640261.jpg.webp?itok=HivSvPVh)
A Quick Look at State-By-State Building Permit Data
Building permit data provides a barometer of the development market, which is a reflection of development processes and planning regimes. The arc of the country's housing construction trends bends toward Texas.
![Pedestrian Infrastructure](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/6337549461_ceaa48da82_z.jpg.webp?itok=f__TWI4J)
Oakland Hoping to Provide Safer Pedestrian Infrastructure at Construction Sites
"Every reasonable effort should be made to avoid and minimize construction impacts on pedestrian, bicycle, and bus facilities in Oakland," according to a guidance released by the city of Oakland earlier in 2017.
![Pittsburgh](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_8141944.jpg.webp?itok=4K6fEEUI)
Pittsburgh Launches New Permit and Code Tracking Website
The city of Pittsburgh launched a Buildingeye website to provide new access to the development and approval process in the city.
![Denver Union STation TOD](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/shutterstock_214532653%20%281%29.jpg.webp?itok=M7WU7QXT)
Denver Planning Department Hiring to Keep Up With Permit Backlog
As Denver's development industry achieves post-recession levels of activity, the city's Department of Community Planning and Development needs staff for pre-recession levels of capacity.
Mapping Ten Years of Affordable Housing Projects in Chicago
The power of open data and mapping is on display in a map by Chicago Cityscape that shows all building permits for affordable housing in Chicago over the past decade.
New York Construction Permits Break 50-Year Record
Not since 1963 have so many construction permits been issued. In fact, permits issued in the month of June alone exceeded the average annual total over the past two decades.
Pagination
Placer County
City of Morganton
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Dongguan Binhaiwan Bay Area Management Committee
City of Waukesha, WI
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Indiana Borough
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