 |
 |
|
As mandated affordable units rose, new construction dwindled in this one-year study of 45 Bay Area Cities.
|
|
Builders have long railed against inclusionary zoning, a popular municipal tactic that requires a number of homes in a new community be set aside for sale at below-market prices. Builders say it violates supply-and-demand common sense and yields less, not more, affordable housing. New research from the Los Angeles-based Reason Public Policy Institute bears them out.
In California, inclusionary zoning got an early start and is now in 20 percent of the state's communities. RPPI studied 45 San Francisco Bay Area cities with such ordinances to find that from 1973 to the present, inclusionary zoning created an average 228 affordable units per year. The Association of Bay Area Governments' targeted 24,217 units overall, which means that, at the present pace, it will take 100 years to meet the current five-year housing need.
Rather than price controls, RPPI reports, "The real solution is to encourage the issuance of building permits, open more land for responsible development, and abolish zoning laws that unduly restrict development."
The full 50-page report covers the issue in depth and can be downloaded for free.
A 32-page follow-up shows the same trend in Southern California. RPPI believes these trends can be generalized.
Advertisement
Related Stories
Hamlet Homes' Mike Brodsky on Finding Successors and Letting Go
A transition that involved a national executive search, an employee buyout, and Builder 20 group mentorship to save the deal
Time-Machine Lessons
We ask custom builders: If you could redo your first house or revisit the first years of running your business, what would you do differently?
Back Story: Green Gables Opens Up Every Aspect of its Design/Build Process to Clients
"You never want to get to the next phase and realize somebody's not happy."
