We're very excited to (finally) share the first entry in our three-part series on Yoni Appelbaum's book, Stuck. @stano.bsky.social is my co-host, and our guest for this episode is California Attorney General @robbonta.bsky.social to talk housing immigration law. lewis.ucla.edu/2026/05/04/1...

Grateful to @velshi.com for devoting a segment of this length and sophistication to the message of "Stuck" www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0UQ...

If you don’t know the story of Hang Kie and Modesto’s legalization of racial segregation through the racially neutral mechanism of zoning, it’s one of the great untold American civil rights stories.

The American Dream has always been widespread access to opportunity. Without plentiful housing in high opportunity cities, the American Dream dies.

1. Take a look at this chart. That black line? Technically, it's the decline in the percentage of Americans who move each year—from about one in five to less than one in thirteen. But it's more than that. You're looking at the decline of the American dream.

#Stuck by @YoniApplebaum important book that examines, among other things, #affordablehousing via how the privileged and the propertied broke the engine of American opportunity - out in paperback this month. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/03/book-excerpt-from-stuck-by-yoni-appelbaum/

“The Gilded Age saw an eruption of scandal and corruption that accompanied and even enabled the transformation of the American economy alongside explosive changes in technology,” Walter Russell Mead argues. “Trump’s Washington looks like the Gilded Age on steroids.”

NEW: “I mean, is this a Fort Sumter?” Tim Walz asked @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social today. “It’s a physical assault,” Walz told him. “It’s an armed force that’s assaulting, that’s killing my constituents, my citizens.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

BREAKING: The Border Patrol's Greg Bovino has been ousted from his role of "Commander at Large"—and Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski could be next to lose their jobs, sources tell @nickmiroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

I gave you guys a whole year to solve America's mobility crisis—restoring the chance for Americans to pursue opportunity and choose their own communities—but you've left me with no choice but to publish "Stuck" in paperback.

Can money buy a president love? Trump seems determined to find out, perhaps as early as tonight: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Something I wrote. @theatlantic.com @yappelbaum.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

I love this essay.

Reminder: Mayor Alyia Gaskins will join journalist and author Yoni Appelbaum for a public forum on housing affordability and zoning reform tonight at the Lyceum.

"The Pentagon’s top watchdog has concluded that the information Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared in the chat could have put the mission, U.S. personnel, and national security at risk had it fallen into the wrong hands." Detailed, exclusive reporting: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

There's something uniquely satisfying about kind words from a writer whose own books you've enjoyed. Thanks to @vermontgmg.bsky.social for including me on this list: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/my-favorit...

Related: This is a great section from the book “Stuck” about how new homes kept getting new features at breakneck speed, and they all *made life easier*:

👀 @alyia4alx.com and @yappelbaum.bsky.social will discuss Zoning for Justice and Affordability, hosted by @homeofva.bsky.social at the Lyceum in Old Town Mon. 12/8, 6:30 - 8:00pm Event is free but space is limited: homeofva.org/events/lets-...

BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

law and order: sandwich crimes unit www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

We published our 100th episode! Listen for some fun lore about the Housing Voice hosts, answers to listener questions, and the announcement that we'll be reading Stuck for our first book club, with author Yoni Appelbaum joining us for the last episode in that short series.

"Some of the critics seems to view the artificial costs of mobility as an argument against mobility, when removing those artificial costs is the whole point of the book." Further thoughts on @yappelbaum.bsky.social's "Stuck," and against localism as an ideology:

One of the most interesting things in @yappelbaum.bsky.social's Stuck, is the idea that people join groups most when they can live where they want.

NEW: Kamala Harris passed on her top choice for a running mate—Pete Buttigieg—because it would've been “too big of a risk” for a Black woman to run with a gay man, she writes in her book, @jonlemire.bsky.social reports: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Many of our land use / building codes are rooted in exclusion + prejudice, even if they are facially anodyne and widely accepted as common sense today Case in point: early 1900 fire safety reforms were primarily designed to ⬆️ the cost of tenements / MF apts (old and new) to reduce immigration

Strongly recommended for pro-housing people (and even more for people who aren't yet on board): Appelbaum, Yoni. Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. Random House, 2025. Moving exerpt attached. #a2council

"When the Dust Bowl set off an exodus out of the Great Plains, 300k migrants showed up in California, a place seen as the land of opportunity. The welcome was not warm." This was talked about a bit in the book "Stuck" by @yappelbaum.bsky.social:

From Stuck! by @yappelbaum.bsky.social, some great history on U.S. building codes and Lawrence Veiller's work on tenement laws:

1. In the decades before Prohibition, many municipalities experimented with license-laws, regulating the sale of alcohol. Such licenses swiftly became the most valuable things dispensed by government, with profoundly distorting consequences.

You will never think of Jane Jacobs the same way again after reading this book: bsky.app/profile/torr...

10/10, no notes

Sounds like a big problem! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/700580...

We used to be a country, a proper country

"On its own accord, Grok dug up the demographics of previous winners of Nobel Prizes in the sciences—disproportionately white men—and determined a set of “good_races”: white, caucasian, Asian, East Asian, South Asian, and Jewish."

I talk to Yoni Appelbaum on declining mobility and the future of American economic growth, how the abundance movement is changing the tenor of this debate, and some solutions on how to help Americans live where they want and build a more prosperous future: riskgaming.substack.com/p/how-jane-...

NEW: Culture war, with real troops. What I saw during three days in downtown LA www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

The most important graph you'll see today. As large blue-state metros choked off growth with zoning, red-state metros kept building cheap suburban housing. But now, that's changed, as homeowners in those states have mastered the art of blocking development, too. The result? Prices are spiking.

With happy timing, here comes my book extract -- on why having a high IQ can make you an outsider, rather than a genius. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Sunday read: How has zoning historically been used to segregate cities? 1885 Modesto, CA made it illegal to operate laundromats in certain areas for one racist reason. We can’t discuss zoning bills, like the AZ Starter Homes Act, without acknowledging this history. ℹ️: Stuck by Yoni Appelbaum

The housing market now dictates settlement patterns, rather than following from them. Americans move to find housing they can afford, not to seek economic opportunity. Does it really have to be that way? @ad-mastro.bsky.social reviews @yappelbaum.bsky.social's "Stuck":

"Appelbaum very probably represents the Democratic future. He can bring in libertarians and capitalists with his YIMBY economic policies...but he keeps the coastal activist base happy by including just a touch of racial identity politics and a whiff of lavender identitarianism."

Sinners is a horror film in which almost all of the key events are driven by the constraints of the Jim Crow economy (spoilery) www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

Key passage from Stuck by @yappelbaum.bsky.social. New York tenement housing was a temporary step ladder for newcomers saving up for something better (and conditions were mostly fine). We see snapshots of where people are in the moment but not how they move up. Observing dynamism is tricky.

Join us this afternoon as we talk housing

Nicely done

SCOOP: three days after Kilmar Abrego García’s family sued the govt for his wrongful deportation, US officials began working on plan to fix the mistake and ensure his safety in El Salvador until they could bring him back. Then the Trump administration dug in www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

One of the joys of writing a book is finding out all the things that resonate with readers in unexpected ways

Your beach reads are here

The Economist calls "Stuck" a "fascinating new account of the decline in Americans’ geographical mobility." www.economist.com/united-state...

People keep asking me why I'm so skeptical of the democratic input from community hearings. And the simplest answer is—it's incredibly undemocratic!