Who Killed the Starter Home?

About Who Killed the Starter Home?

Have you seen any starter homes for sale lately? Neither have we. In this podcast, we speak with experts and try to figure out why this humble first home is going extinct. We’ll be exploring if it is the politicians, wielding zoning laws like a murder weapon who killed the starter home? Or maybe the scaredy-cat planners and designers? Or the developers, armed with cookie-cutter plans and corporate indifference? Is it our convoluted tax policy that subsidies homeownership, but puts every tax penalty in the way of creation of the starter homes. Spoiler alert: it’s probably a little of everything. We’ll be peeling back the layers of bureaucracy, bad faith, and bad planning, with stops along the way for affordable housing scandals, ADU success stories, and a passionate plea for building code updates. Join us for a conversation that’s part policy deep-dive, part therapy session for frustrated builders, and entirely a love letter to cities that deserve better.

Publisher

Marina Rubina

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Feb 2025

Latest episode

30 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

90 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Oct 2026

   Should We Bring Co-Living Back? Conversation with Samuel Hooper

   Have you ever lived with a stranger, shared a kitchen, and ended up marrying someone down the hall? Sam Hooper did. Sam is a legislative attorney who has worked on housing and property rights at the Texas legislature and at a legal nonprofit. He wrote the model bill, the Co-Living Buildings Act. In this episode, Sam walks us through why single-room occupancy and shared housing, once common across America, was regulated out of existence. He explains what happened when the bottom rung of the housing ladder disappeared, and how occupancy limits, zoning definitions and building codes stand in the way recreating it today. We talk about what Washington State got right, and what a modern version of co-living might look like. It wouldn't be the Soviet communal apartment I grew up in. As Sam puts it: no one should be forced to live on the streets to spare them the indignity of sharing a kitchen.

2. 

   23 Oct 2026

   A Phenomenal Place to Live. No Car Needed. Conversation with Robert Ciatto

   On this show, we usually bring in experts. They share what is broken in housing and what solutions are being tried around the world. Today is different. I recorded this one on my phone at the Princeton Farmers Market on October 15th. So please forgive the sound and video quality. Meet Bob and his neighbor. They are 95 and 98. And they love living in the heart of town. We hope their stories ease fears about living closer together and be more open to a variety of homes in our communities.

3. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Luck Is Not a Housing Policy. Conversation with Charlotte Hayden.

   Charlotte Hayden grew up in Princeton and recently came back as an adult. She found her apartment through a series of lucky coincidences and loves living in a walkable neighborhood without a car. Charlotte says that’s how it works for almost everyone she knows: all housing searches are workarounds. Someone heard of a friend with a spare room. Someone’s parents bought a house and needed to rent it out. Someone got referred by sheer coincidence. People of her generation are tired of relying on luck as a housing policy. And buying a first home feels out of reach. We also talk about what it’s like to live without a car. Interestingly, it’s not grocery shopping that is the worst part. It’s the stigma, and how surprised people are when she shows up on a bike. We also talk about what young people want from a town, such as safe bike lanes and places to sit that don’t require a purchase.

Who has been a guest on Who Killed the Starter Home?

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Taizo Yamamoto
• Alain Bertaud
• Mike Hathorne
• Elmer Moore Jr
• Benjamin Schneider

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 31 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

49

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact Who Killed the Starter Home?

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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