Tim McCormick
@tmccormick.org
Housing and knowledge activist, designer, researcher, writer, builder; Contributor writer at @Sightline.org; etc. Mostly in: Cascadia, Western US, LDN; nomadic. http://tmccormick.org; tmccormick.eth
Pinned
Tim McCormick
@tmccormick.org
· Sep 13
On Monday I'll be presenting at #YIMBYtown housing conference in New Haven: "Why Homelessness is a Problem YIMBYs Should Care About and Can Help Solve". Please join us, send Qs/comments, look out for recording/recap later whova.com/embedded/ses... c/ @desegregatect.bsky.social
#YIMBYhomelessness
#YIMBYhomelessness
Reposted by Tim McCormick
"I want people to partner with the Earth, not partner with the utility company."
"If we don't do this then we are dependent on infrastructure. Infrastructure is very scary."
— #MichaelReynolds, founder of #Earthship Biotecture, New Mexico. I visited last spring, it was amazing. #Architecture
"If we don't do this then we are dependent on infrastructure. Infrastructure is very scary."
— #MichaelReynolds, founder of #Earthship Biotecture, New Mexico. I visited last spring, it was amazing. #Architecture
March 20, 2025 at 5:41 AM
"I want people to partner with the Earth, not partner with the utility company."
"If we don't do this then we are dependent on infrastructure. Infrastructure is very scary."
— #MichaelReynolds, founder of #Earthship Biotecture, New Mexico. I visited last spring, it was amazing. #Architecture
"If we don't do this then we are dependent on infrastructure. Infrastructure is very scary."
— #MichaelReynolds, founder of #Earthship Biotecture, New Mexico. I visited last spring, it was amazing. #Architecture
On Monday I'll be presenting at #YIMBYtown housing conference in New Haven: "Why Homelessness is a Problem YIMBYs Should Care About and Can Help Solve". Please join us, send Qs/comments, look out for recording/recap later whova.com/embedded/ses... c/ @desegregatect.bsky.social
#YIMBYhomelessness
#YIMBYhomelessness
September 13, 2025 at 9:05 PM
On Monday I'll be presenting at #YIMBYtown housing conference in New Haven: "Why Homelessness is a Problem YIMBYs Should Care About and Can Help Solve". Please join us, send Qs/comments, look out for recording/recap later whova.com/embedded/ses... c/ @desegregatect.bsky.social
#YIMBYhomelessness
#YIMBYhomelessness
Reposted by Tim McCormick
We made these reforms, will they help, how much, how sufficient, what else is possible and needed? I'm planning to tune in: 12:20pm @opb.org, or later at www.opb.org/article/2025.... Please let's talk #OutcomesNotOutputs, and barriers, factors, possibilities besides zoning
bsky.app/profile/ande...
bsky.app/profile/ande...
August 4, 2025 at 7:08 PM
We made these reforms, will they help, how much, how sufficient, what else is possible and needed? I'm planning to tune in: 12:20pm @opb.org, or later at www.opb.org/article/2025.... Please let's talk #OutcomesNotOutputs, and barriers, factors, possibilities besides zoning
bsky.app/profile/ande...
bsky.app/profile/ande...
for #YIMBYtown2025 Sept 14-16 in #NewHaven, I'm invited to present, join panel w/ @pacificlegal.bsky.social, on #homelessness responses. My topic: "Homelessness is a Housing Diversity Problem" www.tmccormick.org/writing/home... comments & #counterpoint welcome. bsky.app/profile/yimb...
#YIMBYtown
#YIMBYtown
July 26, 2025 at 2:55 AM
for #YIMBYtown2025 Sept 14-16 in #NewHaven, I'm invited to present, join panel w/ @pacificlegal.bsky.social, on #homelessness responses. My topic: "Homelessness is a Housing Diversity Problem" www.tmccormick.org/writing/home... comments & #counterpoint welcome. bsky.app/profile/yimb...
#YIMBYtown
#YIMBYtown
Reposted by Tim McCormick
it's only a matter of time, imo, before people realize, admit, or ask why not forms of what's now called/run as ' #InterimHousing' can be the hugely-needed low-cost, flexible housing today's #PermanentHousing complex won't build. It's like a love that dare not speak its name
bsky.app/profile/real...
bsky.app/profile/real...
July 15, 2025 at 11:17 PM
it's only a matter of time, imo, before people realize, admit, or ask why not forms of what's now called/run as ' #InterimHousing' can be the hugely-needed low-cost, flexible housing today's #PermanentHousing complex won't build. It's like a love that dare not speak its name
bsky.app/profile/real...
bsky.app/profile/real...
new book out I'll be interested to read, examining Portland's "self-managed encampments," or villages: #DignityVillage (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity..., started 2000),
#Right2DreamToo (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_2..., started 2011),
#HazelnutGrove (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazelnu..., started 2015)
#Right2DreamToo (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_2..., started 2011),
#HazelnutGrove (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazelnu..., started 2015)
Publication day! The Injustice of Property is available from the great @ugapress.bsky.social. The book details how property in liberalism constrains common attempts at ending homelessness, despite land use practices of un/precariously housed people rejecting the proprietarian logic of liberalism.
July 1, 2025 at 1:38 PM
new book out I'll be interested to read, examining Portland's "self-managed encampments," or villages: #DignityVillage (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity..., started 2000),
#Right2DreamToo (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_2..., started 2011),
#HazelnutGrove (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazelnu..., started 2015)
#Right2DreamToo (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_2..., started 2011),
#HazelnutGrove (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazelnu..., started 2015)
Reposted by Tim McCormick
the big Q with Permanent Supportive Housing, for most people, is how much does or can it reduce community-level #homelessness? The best research on that says, unfortunately, only by a tiny % of what most proponents, officials, and publics think. bsky.app/profile/theu...
c/ @amysundberg.bsky.social
c/ @amysundberg.bsky.social
King County's permanent supportive housing initiative showed improved health outcomes for its residents in 2024. 95% of PSH residents stayed housed over the course of the year.
Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/06/13/k...
Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/06/13/k...
June 13, 2025 at 11:08 PM
the big Q with Permanent Supportive Housing, for most people, is how much does or can it reduce community-level #homelessness? The best research on that says, unfortunately, only by a tiny % of what most proponents, officials, and publics think. bsky.app/profile/theu...
c/ @amysundberg.bsky.social
c/ @amysundberg.bsky.social
Reposted by Tim McCormick
great steps, but this #MiddleHousing focus is producing almost none of what is most needed: homes lower-income people can afford. What if we aimed higher, for all, and for #HousingJustice? eg by extending the logic to #MissingSmall & #MissingMovable? c/ @trufahey.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/ande...
bsky.app/profile/ande...
June 5, 2025 at 8:45 PM
great steps, but this #MiddleHousing focus is producing almost none of what is most needed: homes lower-income people can afford. What if we aimed higher, for all, and for #HousingJustice? eg by extending the logic to #MissingSmall & #MissingMovable? c/ @trufahey.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/ande...
bsky.app/profile/ande...
Reposted by Tim McCormick
"These men who own the world in which you struggle for life—what is it that they want? They want power, power to rule you. And what is it that you want? You want power to rule yourself."
— #UptonSinclair, The Brass Check (1919) archive.org/details/cu31... #NewsMedia #Housing
— #UptonSinclair, The Brass Check (1919) archive.org/details/cu31... #NewsMedia #Housing
April 4, 2025 at 2:35 AM
"These men who own the world in which you struggle for life—what is it that they want? They want power, power to rule you. And what is it that you want? You want power to rule yourself."
— #UptonSinclair, The Brass Check (1919) archive.org/details/cu31... #NewsMedia #Housing
— #UptonSinclair, The Brass Check (1919) archive.org/details/cu31... #NewsMedia #Housing
Reposted by Tim McCormick
After fifteen years in the making, my book is finally coming out July 2025. 🤸🤸♂️🤸♀️ It is available for pre-order on the UNC Press site:
www.uncpress.org/book/9781469...
Use code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout to save 30%! @uncpress.bsky.social
www.uncpress.org/book/9781469...
Use code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout to save 30%! @uncpress.bsky.social
Good Parents, Better Homes, and Great Schools | Karen Benjamin | University of North Carolina Press
Good Parents, Better Homes, and Great Schools examines how white residential developers, planning consultants, and their allies in government strategically r...
www.uncpress.org
December 18, 2024 at 11:27 AM
After fifteen years in the making, my book is finally coming out July 2025. 🤸🤸♂️🤸♀️ It is available for pre-order on the UNC Press site:
www.uncpress.org/book/9781469...
Use code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout to save 30%! @uncpress.bsky.social
www.uncpress.org/book/9781469...
Use code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout to save 30%! @uncpress.bsky.social
Reposted by Tim McCormick
the housing aspect of this fascinates me: what is the housing 'lifeboat' that all who can, should have ready? Also, how might it be useful in the meantime, perhaps as vacation, seasonal or rental dwelling?
"We don't call it a house, we call it a vessel."
bsky.app/profile/alex...
#LifeboatHousing
"We don't call it a house, we call it a vessel."
bsky.app/profile/alex...
#LifeboatHousing
If you just wanna make money, invest in private essential/emergency businesses that cover monied customers when formerly reliable public services are disrupted by defunding, civic sabotage and public science silencing... and a rapidly intensifying climate crisis.
It does't get noted enough that the disruption of public, collective risk-mitigation mechanisms makes the purchase of private risk-mitigation services effectively mandatory for the who can afford them... and creates profitable captive markets for privatized safety.
March 27, 2025 at 2:40 AM
the housing aspect of this fascinates me: what is the housing 'lifeboat' that all who can, should have ready? Also, how might it be useful in the meantime, perhaps as vacation, seasonal or rental dwelling?
"We don't call it a house, we call it a vessel."
bsky.app/profile/alex...
#LifeboatHousing
"We don't call it a house, we call it a vessel."
bsky.app/profile/alex...
#LifeboatHousing
Reposted by Tim McCormick
see also #EpistemicTrespass / #EpistemicTrespassing, & good balanced paper on it: Ballantyne, Nathan. "Epistemic Trespassing." Mind, Vol 128, Issue 510, April 2019, Pages 367–395. DOI link: doi.org/10.1093/mind...;
Free version: 12 Feb 2018 philpapers.org/archive/BALE.... Below: Conclusion section
Free version: 12 Feb 2018 philpapers.org/archive/BALE.... Below: Conclusion section
March 28, 2025 at 9:24 PM
see also #EpistemicTrespass / #EpistemicTrespassing, & good balanced paper on it: Ballantyne, Nathan. "Epistemic Trespassing." Mind, Vol 128, Issue 510, April 2019, Pages 367–395. DOI link: doi.org/10.1093/mind...;
Free version: 12 Feb 2018 philpapers.org/archive/BALE.... Below: Conclusion section
Free version: 12 Feb 2018 philpapers.org/archive/BALE.... Below: Conclusion section
Reposted by Tim McCormick
useful article distinguishing long-term, within-unit #filtering of housing, vs immediate, across-market, i.e. chain-of-migration. Conflation has long aided #SupplyDenialism: leaders routinely dismiss effects of 'supply', e.g. in OR's #OHNA plan, b/c "filtering takes decades"
bsky.app/profile/zyud...
bsky.app/profile/zyud...
March 26, 2025 at 6:05 PM
useful article distinguishing long-term, within-unit #filtering of housing, vs immediate, across-market, i.e. chain-of-migration. Conflation has long aided #SupplyDenialism: leaders routinely dismiss effects of 'supply', e.g. in OR's #OHNA plan, b/c "filtering takes decades"
bsky.app/profile/zyud...
bsky.app/profile/zyud...
Reposted by Tim McCormick
it's #NotTheOnion… top Portland "public safety" official takes care of the problem perfectly, for himself, by steering entirely clear of the God-forsaken place
www.oregonlive.com/politics/202....
#OpenOregonian: archive.ph/https://www.... #governance #pdxpol #MikeMyersPDX
www.oregonlive.com/politics/202....
#OpenOregonian: archive.ph/https://www.... #governance #pdxpol #MikeMyersPDX
Portland extends job for top public safety official who’s been working from Las Vegas
Myers, who oversees Portland’s police, fire and 911 bureaus, previously said that he had relocated to Henderson, Nevada last September due to health problems.
www.oregonlive.com
March 25, 2025 at 8:36 PM
it's #NotTheOnion… top Portland "public safety" official takes care of the problem perfectly, for himself, by steering entirely clear of the God-forsaken place
www.oregonlive.com/politics/202....
#OpenOregonian: archive.ph/https://www.... #governance #pdxpol #MikeMyersPDX
www.oregonlive.com/politics/202....
#OpenOregonian: archive.ph/https://www.... #governance #pdxpol #MikeMyersPDX
"I am in a city where, if anywhere, men are not contented to live wholly for themselves and the present, but …[keep] their eyes open to whatever new is stirring, so that they may help and be helped by any truth that there may be in it."
— #WilliamMorris, 1879.
archive.org/details/gri_...
— #WilliamMorris, 1879.
archive.org/details/gri_...
The art of the people : an address delivered before the Birmingham Society of Arts, February 19th, 1879 : Morris, William, 1834-1896 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
This edition of the Art of the People by William Morris is the first book in which is used the type designed by and cast for Mr. Seymour; two hundred and...
archive.org
March 25, 2025 at 6:45 PM
"I am in a city where, if anywhere, men are not contented to live wholly for themselves and the present, but …[keep] their eyes open to whatever new is stirring, so that they may help and be helped by any truth that there may be in it."
— #WilliamMorris, 1879.
archive.org/details/gri_...
— #WilliamMorris, 1879.
archive.org/details/gri_...
Reposted by Tim McCormick
on the broader #ParkingReform agenda I would like to see, and see legislation/advocacy pursue: new #Toposcope article I began today: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
c/ @citizen-cate.bsky.social @tonyjordan.bsky.social
c/ @citizen-cate.bsky.social @tonyjordan.bsky.social
#ParkingReform
#ParkingReform [Toposcope.net article, started March 23, 2025 TM] Overview Soc-media thread prompt Parking reform ideas/proposals On-street parking Off-street parking General ChatGPT discussion Ove...
docs.google.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:35 AM
on the broader #ParkingReform agenda I would like to see, and see legislation/advocacy pursue: new #Toposcope article I began today: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
c/ @citizen-cate.bsky.social @tonyjordan.bsky.social
c/ @citizen-cate.bsky.social @tonyjordan.bsky.social
Reposted by Tim McCormick
ArchDaily describes bldg as in "Washington, US": could mean two completely different places, one a *state*. In fact, it's in Washington, CT!
Why do architecture articles so often not give location well, eg ADDRESS? (I'd add geocode, #OpenLocationCode/ #PlusCode en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Lo...)
Why do architecture articles so often not give location well, eg ADDRESS? (I'd add geocode, #OpenLocationCode/ #PlusCode en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Lo...)
March 24, 2025 at 1:17 AM
ArchDaily describes bldg as in "Washington, US": could mean two completely different places, one a *state*. In fact, it's in Washington, CT!
Why do architecture articles so often not give location well, eg ADDRESS? (I'd add geocode, #OpenLocationCode/ #PlusCode en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Lo...)
Why do architecture articles so often not give location well, eg ADDRESS? (I'd add geocode, #OpenLocationCode/ #PlusCode en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Lo...)
Reposted by Tim McCormick
a lateral response: if facing a bottleneck, try moving the bottle? Came to mind from this poster by #JimFranklin I saw in Austin. Might address at least the Inertia side of the #TriangleOfBrittleness.
btw great essay, in an increasingly essential accumulation of them.
bsky.app/profile/alex...
btw great essay, in an increasingly essential accumulation of them.
bsky.app/profile/alex...
March 20, 2025 at 2:33 AM
a lateral response: if facing a bottleneck, try moving the bottle? Came to mind from this poster by #JimFranklin I saw in Austin. Might address at least the Inertia side of the #TriangleOfBrittleness.
btw great essay, in an increasingly essential accumulation of them.
bsky.app/profile/alex...
btw great essay, in an increasingly essential accumulation of them.
bsky.app/profile/alex...
this paper #LouieEtAl2025 is already, likely will be widely, cited by #SupplySkepticism types, so I suggest to advocates (+ all skeptic/fair-minded), with this & all most-cited sources & points: ASAP help develop solid analysis/counterpoint doc(s), eg gather pts via hashtag
bsky.app/profile/spok...
bsky.app/profile/spok...
March 22, 2025 at 11:08 PM
this paper #LouieEtAl2025 is already, likely will be widely, cited by #SupplySkepticism types, so I suggest to advocates (+ all skeptic/fair-minded), with this & all most-cited sources & points: ASAP help develop solid analysis/counterpoint doc(s), eg gather pts via hashtag
bsky.app/profile/spok...
bsky.app/profile/spok...
Reposted by Tim McCormick
@khanhphamforor.bsky.social thanks for discussing your housing legislation on #CitycastPortland today portland.citycast.fm/podcasts/cou....
Q: What were the original 6, and now 5, "Housing Production Accelerator Concepts" noted, and how were they developed then pruned? #HousingAlternatives #orleg
Q: What were the original 6, and now 5, "Housing Production Accelerator Concepts" noted, and how were they developed then pruned? #HousingAlternatives #orleg
Could These Big Ideas Fix Portland's Housing Crisis? - City Cast Portland
Our state is facing an unprecedented housing crisis. And experts say here in Portland, it's still getting worse: permits...
portland.citycast.fm
March 20, 2025 at 8:10 PM
@khanhphamforor.bsky.social thanks for discussing your housing legislation on #CitycastPortland today portland.citycast.fm/podcasts/cou....
Q: What were the original 6, and now 5, "Housing Production Accelerator Concepts" noted, and how were they developed then pruned? #HousingAlternatives #orleg
Q: What were the original 6, and now 5, "Housing Production Accelerator Concepts" noted, and how were they developed then pruned? #HousingAlternatives #orleg
Reposted by Tim McCormick
great post, and pointers in it: caseorganic.medium.com/beyond-flat-.... For reference/others, here's source of the #MarkWeiser quote:
Weiser, Mark (1993). "The World Is Not a Desktop." Perspectives article for ACM Interactions. calmtech.com/papers/the-w....
#citation #ubicomp #calmtech #Toposcope
Weiser, Mark (1993). "The World Is Not a Desktop." Perspectives article for ACM Interactions. calmtech.com/papers/the-w....
#citation #ubicomp #calmtech #Toposcope
March 22, 2025 at 2:25 AM
great post, and pointers in it: caseorganic.medium.com/beyond-flat-.... For reference/others, here's source of the #MarkWeiser quote:
Weiser, Mark (1993). "The World Is Not a Desktop." Perspectives article for ACM Interactions. calmtech.com/papers/the-w....
#citation #ubicomp #calmtech #Toposcope
Weiser, Mark (1993). "The World Is Not a Desktop." Perspectives article for ACM Interactions. calmtech.com/papers/the-w....
#citation #ubicomp #calmtech #Toposcope
@amritakulka.bsky.social hi Amrita, thank you for the follow. I look forward to reading this JMP & other papers from you—very interesting & relevant to me and many people I know; also very timely eg with lot minimum size size rules changing in Texas and many places.👍 sites.google.com/site/kulkaam...
March 22, 2025 at 9:53 PM
@amritakulka.bsky.social hi Amrita, thank you for the follow. I look forward to reading this JMP & other papers from you—very interesting & relevant to me and many people I know; also very timely eg with lot minimum size size rules changing in Texas and many places.👍 sites.google.com/site/kulkaam...
"I'm not the guy you kill, I'm the guy you buy…What do I want? I want more. I want out. I want everything…Do I LOOK like I'm negotiating?!"
—Clayton (George Clooney), in Michael Clayton, 2007, superb scene youtu.be/NYknJmoDDPs?...
(1:35-).
#MichaelClayton #GeorgeClooney #quote #negotiation #goals
—Clayton (George Clooney), in Michael Clayton, 2007, superb scene youtu.be/NYknJmoDDPs?...
(1:35-).
#MichaelClayton #GeorgeClooney #quote #negotiation #goals
Michael Clayton (2007) - Do I look like I'm negotiating?
YouTube video by Favorite Movie Scenes
youtu.be
March 21, 2025 at 6:22 PM
"I'm not the guy you kill, I'm the guy you buy…What do I want? I want more. I want out. I want everything…Do I LOOK like I'm negotiating?!"
—Clayton (George Clooney), in Michael Clayton, 2007, superb scene youtu.be/NYknJmoDDPs?...
(1:35-).
#MichaelClayton #GeorgeClooney #quote #negotiation #goals
—Clayton (George Clooney), in Michael Clayton, 2007, superb scene youtu.be/NYknJmoDDPs?...
(1:35-).
#MichaelClayton #GeorgeClooney #quote #negotiation #goals
Reposted by Tim McCormick
9 McMansions or 44 Small Homes for locals?
What worked in New Hampshire can work in Raleigh and Durham!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0y...
What worked in New Hampshire can work in Raleigh and Durham!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0y...
The lot fit 9 McMansions. They built 44 small homes for locals instead
YouTube video by Kirsten Dirksen
www.youtube.com
February 11, 2025 at 7:03 PM
9 McMansions or 44 Small Homes for locals?
What worked in New Hampshire can work in Raleigh and Durham!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0y...
What worked in New Hampshire can work in Raleigh and Durham!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0y...
@khanhphamforor.bsky.social thanks for discussing your housing legislation on #CitycastPortland today portland.citycast.fm/podcasts/cou....
Q: What were the original 6, and now 5, "Housing Production Accelerator Concepts" noted, and how were they developed then pruned? #HousingAlternatives #orleg
Q: What were the original 6, and now 5, "Housing Production Accelerator Concepts" noted, and how were they developed then pruned? #HousingAlternatives #orleg
Could These Big Ideas Fix Portland's Housing Crisis? - City Cast Portland
Our state is facing an unprecedented housing crisis. And experts say here in Portland, it's still getting worse: permits...
portland.citycast.fm
March 20, 2025 at 8:10 PM
@khanhphamforor.bsky.social thanks for discussing your housing legislation on #CitycastPortland today portland.citycast.fm/podcasts/cou....
Q: What were the original 6, and now 5, "Housing Production Accelerator Concepts" noted, and how were they developed then pruned? #HousingAlternatives #orleg
Q: What were the original 6, and now 5, "Housing Production Accelerator Concepts" noted, and how were they developed then pruned? #HousingAlternatives #orleg