“Designed to be a page turner, a quick read, a summary, and most importantly a call to action.”
“What you do with this information over the next few months will shape our collective future.”
“ReCode is the most consequential document the city has produced in the last 100 years!”
“The Mayor should immediately establish a taskforce to address the imbalance between housing supply and demand.”
Listen to the audio book
Tom Landry, owner of Benchmark Real Estate in Portland, released a short e-book called “Priced Out of Portland” on the topic of Portland’s land use code.
The book dives into the history of zoning in Portland, including what Landry says are potential causes of and solutions for the city’s housing shortage. Discussions include policies like the Green New Deal, rent control and inclusionary zoning.
In a separate newsletter, Landry said the project was informed by his nearly three decades of real estate experience in Portland, from his time as a college-age renter and buying his first multi-family to career today as a real estate agent and developer [...]
“The zoning we put in place 100 years ago was exclusionary – racist, classist,” said Portland real estate agent and developer Tom Landry, who has been making the case for more, denser growth for years. “It was all about keeping the ‘other’ out.”
And its consequences are hitting hard now with the growing need, even if some change is happening.
“With the benefit of hindsight, if we had started the work of updating (the zoning) a decade ago, we would probably be in a better place than we are now,” Landry said.
It’s a nationwide problem [...]
Tom Landry has made housing his “life’s work.” Now the Portland-based developer, real estate agent and builder is writing down his take on Maine’s housing market.
Last week, Landry released a short book called “Priced out of Portland.” It examines some of the root causes of the housing crisis and advocates for solutions that include doing away with inclusionary zoning and limiting sprawl by adding density to downtown areas.
We sat down with Landry for an interview. His answers have been edited for length, clarity and brevity [...]
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