Really enjoyed this podcast conversation with Aaron Renn. Any critiques I have of The City, are only because I want them to be great. I think in order to be truly great, they have to designed FOR families. So that young people can have kids and stay. open.spotify.com/episode/7fUP...

Wow. Here's an awesome (and efficient) bathroom layout with the separate toilet closet condition ... which I really like (don't need to have the window in the toilet room)

One of the craziest rules inhibiting “Family Friendly” apartments is the application of Fair Housing Act Here is a (old) Christmas card photo for my family. I’m obviously biased but I also think this is a PERFECT lifestyle photo to illustrate the benefits of living in an apartment building

In the urban downtown context "Family-Friendly" simply means a house where it's possible for a couple to have a baby ... which means having an extra "room" Like this 1100sf 2BR+Den/Nursery unit ... that also has a dining table instead of an island

“Bobby Fijan is one of the country’s most vocal critics of his industry’s inertia” I’ll take it!

We don't built apartments for families. Look at the distribution of units built in Bellevue, Washington. In buildings since 2010 with more than 20 units ... over 70% of new units are Studio or 1BRs, and less than 2% have 3+ bedrooms

Rachel has been a reliably good and persistent writer on the topic of babies and housing for a long time now.

Cities will always be a magnet for the ambitious & adventurous. A great places to be young - if you don’t have kids Thats the heart of a Vox piece (I was quoted in) which explains how cities grew by attracting millennials but lost sight of the next step in people’s lives www.vox.com/policy/46981...

Building family friendly housing is good people … and good for cities www.vox.com/policy/46981...

The 16-18' wide rowhouse is the perfect "starter home” My company is building this 3-story rowhouse typology is bc it’s beautiful and functional as both detached AND attached … so it works in both urban & suburban neighrbhoods 1200-1600sf, 3-4BR units

What does it look like for a City to be family friendly? “In the City, I want there to be so many babies, so many strollers … that it is as common for you to see a stroller as it is for you to see someone walking a dog.”

"If you want to stay in the city and raise your family there, you should be able to do that” “I think if a lot of these row houses here on Capitol Hill were $300,000 and you could just like buy one if you had a normal job, 80-90% of people would just do that” open.spotify.com/episode/3bpq...

Wow St. Louis! I was not familiar with your game Might be the most striking apartment building I've seen. And it's 5 years old.

This apartment building in Sacramento has the *perfect* lifestyle photo as their hero/header image New buildings never include any photos of any children.

Oversized chess sets are the funniest apartment amenity … that no one ever uses.

It’s a great time to be looking for an apartment in Nashville. Lease specials: 3 months free rent! A free cruise!

Heroes

Next Wednesday, November 19, I am participating in a panel discussion at AIA Brooklyn with @holz-bau.bsky.social and SO-IL's Jonathan Molloy about building code reform. It will be in-person in Downtown Brooklyn from 6 to 8:30 p.m., register free to attend here: www.eventbrite.com/e/rethinking...

A great new paper on effects of smaller apartments on fertility: “A supply shift for large units generates 2.3 times more births than an equal-cost shift for small units. This analysis concludes the supply of housing suitable for families can meaningfully contribute to demographic sustainability”

Toddler playrooms are an amenity that could easily be added to any new apartment building. They don't up take much space ... just like kids. Here's a cute (but small) one in a brand new building in DC

A long, meandering, but fun, conversation I did on family apartments and making cities better for families open.spotify.com/episode/1qEX...

A beautiful, simple, rowhome project I toured in Portland, Maine this year. 1100sf, 3BR+Den/2BA Small, efficient floorplans = affordable

I agree w Emily there needs to be more housing for incremental life stages. I have 0 disagreements w her policy recommendations My emphasis for "family" housing (as a developer) is on building Baby Maybe units rather than Studios, bc I think they are under supplied relative to demand I'll explain🔽

I agree w Emily there needs to be more housing for incremental life stages. I have 0 disagreements w her policy recommendations My emphasis for "family" housing (as a developer) is on building Baby Maybe units rather than Studios, bc I think they are under supplied relative to demand I'll explain🔽

I normally don’t like painting brick … but these rowhomes in DC are charming

Young people are increasingly living in larger apartment buildings For those who care about families and people having babies … since young people ARE living in those units, the key is to make it as easy as possible for younger couples to have their first child “Baby Maybe Housing”

The 3-story rowhome is a Bedrock of America

This is anti-natalist … and will only make apartments more complicated to lay out cod families People who want to have kids prefer apartments that have extra rooms

There's nothing inherently "better" about a smaller house ... and since a Mcmansion is almost certainly going to be larger (for what you can afford) the attributes of the Mcmansion *will* be better than a rowhome

We need to build brownstones again. Masonry. Soundproof. Alley loaded. 1600sf, 3BR+Office/2.5BA

A great end to the work week … riding my bike to my piano lesson

More research that supports that American families are willing to rent apartments … if they have extra bedrooms. Even in smaller unit sizes www.globest.com/2025/10/17/r...

Affordable housing in SF … for $670K/unit Insane

My son had to do a house floorplan project for school … and he picked doing a “Roman style” house with an atrium complete with an arcade room and a bowling alley

Bring back family friendly *photography* for housing

It’s not that hard for young, ambitious, 22-28 year olds to live in *any* American City The problem, with affordability, comes when those same people are 30-36 and want to get married and have kids.

How does a “Baby Maybe” apartment work in real life? Like this …

“Let’s get you home” THIS is the moment The City loses families … when parents think they cannot *raise* their kids downtown (if moving is inevitable) then they think it’s better to bite the bullet and move NOW to the place they will be long term

This is why we need to build “Baby Maybe” apartments … to make it easier for couples to have their first child earlier

The most effective way for parents to be “convinced” to send their children to the local public school … is that when they ask around at the playground “So where do YOU send your kids” is to hear parents of older kids say “We send ours to the local elementary school” Moral shaming does not work

This is what I want for the City, and why I want to build "starter homes" for young urban families ...

A "Baby Maybe" apartment: 775sf 1BR+Den/2BA

A lot of the credit goes to Santi Ruiz for being really well prepared and asking great questions … but this is probably the best market wide and historical conversation I’ve had on apartments. And how it affects “apartments for families” open.spotify.com/episode/63C6...

In my opinion ... the MOST compelling and actionable part the 6,000 person floorplan survey we did was in these 2 charts Americans *prefer* 1BR units that have an extra room rather than a walk-in closet & en-suite bath That includes those who want kids, and those who don't

If a "Baby Maybe" apartment (a unit with a Den/Office/Nursery) can nudge a couple to feel comfortable to "pull the goalie," even if they don't HAVE the baby while living in that unit ... it will have succeeded as a family friendly apartment

An interview I gave to Statecraft (IFP) on *why* we don't build apartments for families and how we can start: "Baby Maybe" apartments For those who love The City, one of he biggest challenges is how to keep the young people who move IN to City when they have kids www.statecraft.pub/p/why-we-don...

Here's a gift link to the @inquirer.com article on how building Baby Maybe apartments can BOTH make financial sense for developers ... and how it can be good for the City share.inquirer.com/OhE3rL

If a "Baby Maybe" apartment (a unit with a Den/Office/Nursery) can nudge a couple to feel comfortable to "pull the goalie" even if they don't HAVE the baby while living in that unit ... it will undoubtedly have succeeded as a family friendly apartment

The @inquirer.com covered the study Lyman Stone & I did ... showing that families put HIGHEST value on an *extra* room in apartments. Even a Den “Family friendly” can be confusing. How many kids? What age? We advance the argument that “Baby Maybe” apartments are good AND pencil t.co/P4SZnB3csx

I wrote a real estate investor focused essay in Thesis Driven on the in-depth applications of the Institute for Family Studies paper I did with Lyman Stone How family friendly" apartment projects can actually make sense financially ... and a few examples www.thesisdriven.com/letters/can-...