Reasonably Optimistic
Reasonably Optimistic
The Washington Post
How can cities win back families? This developer has a plan.
43 minutes Posted Feb 4, 2026 at 11:00 am.
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Walkable neighborhoods, vibrant nightlife, the sheer bounty of it all. City living isn't for everyone, but it's amazing for the people who want it. Unless, that is, they also want a family.
Today's cities are designed for demographic churn — as a rest stop en route to the suburbs, rather than a place you can live a full life. That's bad for families and for America. Bobby Fijan is one of the people trying to fix that. He is the co-founder of The American Housing Corporation, a real estate development company building affordable, family-sized rowhomes in cities across America.
Fijan joins host Megan McArdle to explain how urban housing pushed families out of cities and how his company plans to bring them back.