Dear friend,

Welcome to Frontier, the monthly newsletter from the Future of Property Rights Program at New America. This month we’ve been immersed in a sprint that examines housing loss across the U.S. Sunbelt, and we can’t wait to share the results with you in January. We’ve also been deepening our engagement with USAID; diving more into the systemic problems of eviction data; and continuing our work on Project Visible. Here's what else we've been up to:

What We're Doing

Want More Affordable Housing? Let Arizona Cities Regulate Airbnb, Vacation Rentals

In the Phoenix metro area, a vacation and snowbird hotspot, investors flip entire apartment complexes into weekend rentals, removing desperately-needed housing stock and driving up housing prices. Yet, as local governments scramble to stabilize families and increase affordable housing options, the Arizona state legislature blocks them from regulating short-term vacation rentals. This type of state-level choke is called preemption, and it's a problem across the country.

Tim Robustelli and Maresa Strano, from the Political Reform Program at New America, wrote for The Arizona Republic about how to fix Arizona's housing preemption problem.

Project Visible Presented at Internet Identity Workshop

Last month, FPR partners Dmitri Zagidulin and Liam Broza of LifeScope Labs presented the latest work from Project Visible at the 30th Internet Identity Workshop. Project Visible premiered "Tapestry Credentials for Proof of Occupancy," a new tool to help people around the world prove where they live in the absence of formal documentation.

Celebrating the Mid-Point of the USAID Land Advisors Program

Six months ago, FPR at New America and the Training Resources Group supported USAID to incubate the Agency’s first Land Advisors Program. The program brings together a cadre of 17 land ambassadors from USAID Missions globally and from Washington D.C., to build their capacity in land and resource governance.

The Land Advisors Program empowers these USAID staff to advocate for increased land and resource programming, and to train their peers to integrate land and resource governance into USAID’s activities. Now at its midpoint, the program has built a strong global community of land and resource governance advocates who will continue this important work even once the program ends.

What We're Reading

"Elon Musk's Martian Way (Empire not Included)" - National Review

Elon Musk is increasingly thinking about a settlement on Mars that is built, supplied, and governed by SpaceX. Some critics have cried foul, asserting that companies cannot claim territory and impose laws in the solar system, based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. But Alexander William Salter believes otherwise, noting that the agreement was signed amid the Cold War space race, and accounts poorly for private industry. As firms such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic take on larger roles within our new space age, international laws and norms must respond in kind. We continue to wonder how various property rights paradigms can inform human settlement and commercial activities on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

"Devaluing Black neighborhoods: Redfin accused of the latest form of redlining" - The Baltimore Sun

The Editorial Board of The Baltimore Sun discusses a recent lawsuit that alleges "digital redlining" by the real estate services company, Redfin. Basically, due to a company policy that sets minimum listing prices, many of Redfin's services are not offered to sellers and buyers in majority Black neighborhoods with historically low property values. And a lack of willing buyers often means lower offers, leading to undervalued houses in minority communities, and the continued inability to build wealth and pass it down. The lawsuit is pending, and Redfin has defended its practices, yet the episode is a stark reminder that the effects of redlining and other racist housing practices are still with us, and can even be exacerbated by today's policies.

"Nowhere to go: Displaced Iraqis desperate as camps close" - Thomson Reuters Foundation News

Abdullah Rashid reports on the closing of refugee camps in Iraq, which risks leaving over 100,000 people homeless. Some cannot return home due to fear of violence, while others haven't had time to plan for the rapid closures. Many of these displaced Iraqis lack identification papers, barring them from receiving basic services, and likely complicating the reclamation of housing, land, and property. As the world moves increasingly online, we see the Iraqi refugee crisis and similar situations as striking potential use cases for Project Visible, helping marginalized people access critical resources and their basic rights.

Thoughts on our work or where we're headed? Feel free to reach out to us at FPR@NewAmerica.org.

Until next month, the FPR Team.

About New America

New America is dedicated to renewing the promise of America, bringing us closer to our nation’s highest ideals. We’re a different kind of think tank: one dedicated to public problem solving. Our team of visionary researchers, changemakers, technologists, and storytellers study and seize the opportunities presented by dramatic social and technological change. We search for powerful ideas, wherever they are, and collaborate with civic innovators around the world to develop evidence-based solutions.

The Future of Property Rights Program at New America aims to help solve today’s property rights challenges, both at home and abroad. Through our research, writing, and convening, we strive to connect new constituencies and shed light on underreported issues in the property rights space.

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