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LANDLOCKED

By Policy

 

A lower standard of living, sold as progress.

 

Be First to Read LANDLOCKED

LANDLOCKED-By Policy

How Housing Policy Engineered Scarcity—and Locked a Generation Out

A data-driven investigation into how well-intended housing policies created artificial scarcity, rising prices, and a permanent renter class—and what actually works instead.

Housing didn’t become unaffordable by accident.

Teachers can’t live near their schools. Nurses commute an hour. Young families rent indefinitely. Entire neighborhoods are turning into transient rental zones—while officials insist the system is working.

LANDLOCKED exposes the uncomfortable truth: many housing policies sold as “progress” have quietly reduced opportunity, inflated land prices, and locked working families out of ownership.

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Total Land Set Aside for Development in Washington State

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200+ Empirical Studies Showing Percentage Cost from Land Use Restrictions 

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Number of Cities in a 1200+ Study Showing More Density Lowering Housing Costs

LANDLOCKED is not:

A partisan rant

Anti-environment

Anti-density

Pro-developer talking points

LANDLOCKED is:

Built on real permit data, land math, and policy analysis

Grounded in Washington State—but relevant nationwide

Willing to question “solutions” that fail in the real world

Focused on ownership, stability, and long-term affordability

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What you will learn

  • Why Urban Growth Areas quietly created land scarcity

  • How 70–85% of residential land is locked into the lowest density

  • Why “missing middle” housing mostly becomes expensive rentals

  • How permitting delays kill affordable projects before they’re built

  • Why land prices rise after upzoning in constrained markets

  • Why density works in places like Tokyo and Minneapolis—but not here

  • What policies could actually restore affordability and ownership

gemini-2.5-flash-image_Create_a_scene_where_there_is_a_crowed_street_and_a_FOR_RENT_SIGN_at_2500_a_mont-3

This book is for:

  • Renters wondering why homeownership feels impossible

  • Homeowners worried about instability, turnover, and rising taxes

  • Policymakers and planners who want results—not slogans

  • Builders, real estate professionals, and housing advocates

  • Anyone told “this is just how markets work” and doesn’t buy it

Reserve your FREE copy today!
Income Covenant Model Image

LANDLOCKED doesn't just diagnose the problem

It introduces a practical alternative—the Income Covenant Model™—designed to reconnect wages, land availability, and housing production in a way that supports long-term affordability without sacrificing environmental or community goals.

Learn More

Chapter List:

PREFACE: How This Book Works

Understanding the dual framework—Washington State patterns and Bellingham as the extreme case study

 

CHAPTER 1: How it USED to be

My experience

 

CHAPTER 2: Where It All Began

How the Growth Management Act engineered housing scarcity, why Urban Growth Areas create artificial land shortages, and how 20-year Comprehensive Plans lock cities into failed assumptions

 

CHAPTER 3: The Anti-Growth Machine

How state and local policies combine to restrict supply through environmental overlays, zoning limits, and the UGA trap that prevents outward growth

 

CHAPTER 4: How Cities Make Land Disappear

The six-step process that removes 85-90% of land from consideration, how "buildable lands analysis" manipulates supply numbers, and how to expose the land math in your city

 

CHAPTER 5: The Permitting Gauntlet

Navigate the seven-stage funnel where most projects die, discover why permitting timelines kill affordability, and learn how small builders are systematically eliminated

 

CHAPTER 6: The Capacity Myth

How cities manufacture the illusion of future housing supply, why redevelopment assumptions are 3-7× too optimistic, and what realistic capacity modeling would reveal

 

CHAPTER 7: The Density Trap

Why upzoning rarely lowers prices, how middle housing becomes expensive rentals instead of affordable ownership, and why parking removal hurts renters most

 

CHAPTER 8: The Income Covenant Model—The Breakthrough Solution

The comprehensive reform that addresses the root cause while guaranteeing permanent affordability without subsidies (centerpiece chapter)

 

CHAPTER 9: From Understanding to Action

Transform from informed observer to effective advocate—how to organize, campaign, and win the fight for housing reform in your community

 

APPENDIX A: The Bellingham Deep Dive

Complete case study showing how all these policies combine to create America's most unaffordable small city

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Housing didn't break overnight, and it won't be fixed with slogans!

LANDLOCKED is for anyone ready to understand the system clearly—and demand better.

 

Preorder LANDLOCKED for FREE!