In SINGLE-FAMILY ZONING: CAN HISTORY BE REVERSED?, author Alexander von Hoffman discusses the history of single-family zoning and the challenges we face in dismantling it.
Calling out zoning laws specifically, Hoffman recognizes that there have been some zoning improvements (mainly associated with the YIMBY (Yes in my backyard) movement), but that certain rules are slowing the process, stemming efforts, and maintaining the status quo.
The new zoning rules usually allow building up to four units on a previously single-family lot, a small number that will likely mean that most new development will be done one lot at a time by homeowners and small-scale builders – a slow process. Beyond the issue of volume, it remains to be seen whether the units inserted onto existing lots will satisfy the persistent desire of Americans, especially millennials starting families, for a free-standing house with a yard.”
This, Hoffman argues, is especially true when trying to address the affordable housing crisis — he indicates that it will take some time to peel back decades of unfavorable regulations.
Merely eliminating single-family zoning, history suggests, is unlikely to increase housing stock significantly. To unleash residential development will require peeling back layers of regulations that have accrued over the decades. That could mean reducing minimum lot sizes, relaxing overly stringent construction and site requirements, easing design reviews, and rolling back some environmental controls, including certain provisions for wetlands and open space. The political efforts necessary to reverse such entrenched practices, however, will be formidable, so the recent laws against single-family zoning are but the first steps in a long march.”
Full Story: Single-Family Zoning: Can History Be Reversed? by author Alexander von Hoffman; published on www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/ on October 5th, 2021
