The Single Family Zoning Zombie – Destroy it before it Destroys us!

Ask everyone in the housing industry and they'll tell you that for more than a decade they've been talking about housing shortages. The new construction has dramatically decelerated following the housing crash and we are still far from the pace of building which started in the mid-2000s. In the meantime, construction costs (including pre-Covid) have increased and historical interest rates remain low. Combine everything and any adherence to supply and demand laws can see the trend of rapidly rising home prices coming a mile away. تويتا

However, the housing shortage has become a much more serious problem in the last year. Many homemakers did not like the idea to show themselves as quarantines, so many baby boomers wanted to stay small. New housing applications abounded overnight with people who need additional room for home offices and school pads. Disruption in the supply chain added cost increases while allowing office closures restricted further new supply. The outcome? A wealth of homes that would have hit the market never materialized.

We now find ourselves in a situation in which we need a lot more housing. We had it for a long time and we still need the ability to build more housing much more quickly. Zoning for single families continues to be the biggest obstacle to rapid and cost-effective housing creation. Professional land-use workers and policymakers in local governments throughout the country know the history of these regulations. You know that these old policies are designed for a completely different era, for a completely different set of problems and for an entirely different demographic of the no longer existing nuclear families. But such regulations, like zombies, are difficult to kill. They are also scary to face—particularly for elected officials.

Fortunately, we start to see a few local jurisdictions start trying — by upzoning.

Upgrading single family quarters

Upzoning can be explained in a number of ways. Some people literally describe it as the change in zoning decrees to build up with larger buildings, leading to more housing options but with the same footprint on the earth. Others refer to upzoning as the removal of exclusionary zoning policies that limit 'superior' mobility for mainly people with lower incomes. Whichever definition is used, upzoning results are greater housing density and usually elimination of policies which only allow individual homes or closely related persons to live together.

Affordable housing advocates have been pleading with decades of upliftment, well aware that systemic racism goes deep into local housing legislation, and that more multi-family and common housing is increasing the inventory (i.e. supply). With housing shortages now high, affordable housing supporters are no longer the only ones to declare policies that benefit only nuclear families. Policymakers pay attention on both sides of the island and in all jurisdictions. Consider this alarming figure which illuminates the disconnection: More than 50% of the population in the USA consists of small households, but only 12.5% of the stock of houses consists of studios and single bedrooms. The focus of the country on single family homes has become unsustainable.

As an anecdotal evidence, I spoke recently in Rome, Georgia, a ruby 'red' city northwest of Atlanta, at a public meeting. A town councilor then told me she was ready to "throw their zoning code into the trash," because they knew they couldn't carry on as they are currently built.

The upgrade reduces friction and increases the supply of housing

In the town of Atlanta, in 2018 a new policy was adopted to allow the construction of accessory housing units in the hope of slowing gentrification by using available space. Meanwhile, cities across California have introduced legislation on single family zoning in order to make way for more developments in multiple families. In January, the Federal Agency for Urban Development and Housing issued guidance to local governments on shared housing and warned against the possibility of violating fair housing laws in restrictive zoning codes which forbid it — such as single-family housing. President Biden just proposed $5 billion to encourage local governments to remove zoning and regulatory barriers to the creation of housing.

These initiatives are only a few examples of the background of the upzoning activity. As politicians are waking up to the housing shortage, they realize that changing their zoning is clearly the most powerful and efficient way of tackling the problem and reducing today's unsustainable friction. You hear about developers desperately desperately building or renovating homes while hearing about the lack of options from constituents. Not at all, some people may also be more aware of the racial protests throughout the country and how zoning exacerbates the gap in racial wealth.

See the housing policies of the City of Houston as an example of how local regulations inhibited housing creation and thus affordability. Houston is the fourth-largest U.S. city, but rents haven't skyrocketed like other cities. In fact, Houston ranks 53rd on the average rent for an apartment with one bedroom according to one report. This is partly because Houston has no zoning legislation, which makes it much easier to build than most metropolitan areas. As supply increases in Houston, the relative affordability in comparison with other cities with limited supply increases.

Simply put, the upzoning gives policy makers the opportunity to get more heads into beds across the spectrum of housing, and it's great news for advocates of family buildings, shared housing and affordable homes preaching that 'diningrooms are for people' to maximize space.

Look for this trend to continue as supply is increasing and housing is becoming more affordable. The longer we wait, the deeper the household deficit. If we dig a hole, let us bury those zombies with a single family once and for all.