YIMBY

• These homes are uniquely positioned to help increase housing inventory while tackling restrictive urban zoning policies that have limited the acceptance of off-site built housing in the past.
• As the housing shortage in the United States persists, home builders like Clayton are identifying innovative solutions to help families achieve homeownership.
• This zoning ordinance is an example of flexible legislation that can increase attainable homeownership opportunities in high-growth cities across the country.
• CrossMod has the potential to be a viable solution to homebuyers seeking attainable homeownership in growing cities like Atlanta.

• Then wealthy Atherton, with a population of 7,000 and a median home sale price of US$7.5 million, tried to update its state-mandated housing plan.
• Until very recently, 100% of Atherton’s residentially zoned land allowed only single-family houses on large lots.
• But as our new book on the politics of housing shows, the ability of small suburban municipalities to limit multifamily housing is more the rule than the exception.

Small governments’ big role in limiting housing

• It means building them in existing communities, where small local governments often constrain housing development.
• To study the impact small governments’ opposition is having on housing, we used census tract data from California’s metro areas to examine multifamily housing development between the Census Bureau’s 2008-2012 American Community Survey and its 2014-2018 survey, a time when the housing market was rapidly recovering from the Great Recession.
• An extra 46 new apartments might sound like a small number, but it can make a real difference at the neighborhood level.

Cities across the US face similar struggles

• When we examined census data from metro areas nationwide, we similarly found that neighborhoods in small jurisdictions gained fewer multifamily units.
• Most big American cities in high-cost regions – think Boston, Denver and Los Angeles – are surrounded by a sea of mostly small independent suburbs.

Inner suburbs could offer housing closer to jobs

• Atherton, for example, maintained its estate-style residential zoning for decades, smack-dab in the middle of a job-rich area.
• However, many inner suburbs’ land-use plans were set decades ago in vastly different economic eras, and many now claim to be “built out” and done with adding housing.

What’s standing in the way?

• Homeowners tend to be the dominant political interest in small suburbs.
• They may worry that larger or denser residential buildings will decrease their property values, increase traffic or strain local infrastructure.
• Fears about even minor projects – like the proposal for 16 townhomes near Curry’s estate in Atherton – can get magnified.

How to unlock more housing where it’s needed

• State legislators can unlock the potential for new housing by requiring local governments to relax single-family-only zoning and similar land-use restrictions.
• Kathy Hochul’s effort to enact land-use reforms that would push localities to rezone for more housing hit a dead end in that state’s Legislature in 2023.
• Another approach is for state governments to create metro-level mechanisms designed to represent the needs of housing consumers throughout the region.
• States could set up regionwide housing appeals boards authorized to reconsider and potentially overturn anti-housing decisions by cities and towns.

• Light touch density can help address California's chronic housing supply shortfall, while retaining the look and feel of small scale residential neighborhoods.
• This light touch density achieves natural affordability without reliance on subsidies, income limits, or expensive infrastructure improvements."
• Light touch density, when applied to existing homes, gives homeowners the right to unlock the hidden value in the lot under their homes by repurposing their own land.
• Learn about how Light Touch Density, Senate Bills 9 and 10 are used to provide a YIMBY solution to increasing local housing supply and improving economic vitality.

• Housing Is A Human Right ( HHR ) has proudly released a must-read book for understanding the powerful alliances and devastating policies that fuel the housing affordability and homelessness crises in California.
• It was released Feb. 16, 2022 by the housing advocacy group 'Housing Is A Human Right."
• Housing Is A Human Right urges the public to share the book with friends, family, and colleagues to spread the word.
• Anyone can download and read the book for free by clicking on this link: Selling Off California: The Untold Story .