Sick City: Disease, Race, Inequality and Urban Land

by Patrick M. Condon

Sick City is a call to action prompted by the crisis that crippled our cities, the pandemic. But the pandemic has brought the issues of race, inequality and unaffordability to the forefront as well, illustrating how all of these ills can be traced to unequal access to urban land. Patrick Condon walks the reader through that history, proving that most of these problems are rooted in the inflation of urban land value — land that is no longer priced for its value for housing but as an asset class in a global market hungry for assets of all kinds. The American wage earner who is most affected by COVID is also the worst hit by the surging price of urban land which has made the essential commodity of housing increasingly inaccessible.

Not only does Condon dive deep into myriad and credible references to prove these points, but he also wraps up the conversation with some eminently practical and widely precedented policy actions that municipalities can enact — policy tools to establish housing justice at the same time slow the flow of land value increases into the pockets of land speculators.

Genres: Nonfiction, Urbanism, Urban

152 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 2020

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise review of the housing issue, historical attempts at ensuring affordability, and the effectiveness of various modern policy methods to keep land rents from inexorably climbing and causing low-wage earners and the young to be pushed out of the city or forced into overcrowded conditions.

Condon refutes the flawed idea that the law of supply and demand governs the housing market, and that simply building more housing would solve affordability. Due to the monopolistic nature of land and location, housing costs instead accord to Ricardo’s law of rent, which states that rent is determined by the level of advantage a location has over alternatives. Adding housing supply does not necessarily increase affordability, since such density increases capitalize directly into higher land values, leaving cost per sq foot of housing unchanged.

One of the most powerful and practical tools we have to solve this issue is tying upzoning directly to affordability requirements, ensuring the rent for the new units cannot diverge from local median income. The shining example is Cambridge’s recently-adopted Affordable Housing Overlay, which allows for density increases only if all new units are affordable. This effectively prevents land rents from eating up all of the value created by upzoning, and provides a path for gradually shielding a city’s housing costs from global financial flows.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthwhile critique of market urbanism. The title alludes to COVID but it seems more like Condon was already writing this book and figured he could add an angle about the spatial dynamics of COVID to garner clicks/eyes. From there he could redpill readers into his appreciation for Henry George and Red Vienna's Social Housing.

Applauds both Portland's Residential Infill Project and an AHO plan in Cambridge, which is pretty neat.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and accessible discussion connecting the encounter with COVID and existing work on housing and land use policy. He makes a strong case for taxing land value and using mandates to achieve affordable housing supply. Available online at https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5efd1...

[James Rimmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas needed an editor

[Scott Benoit · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of cities getting sick because land got expensive.