Tackling Homelessness and Increasing Affordable Housing Supply
America today needs more than 7.3 million homes. This past March, President Biden laid out plans to address housing affordability. But now, more than ever, Congress remains at a standstill, with no housing bill being passed.
Despite the current standstill in Congress, numerous states across the nation have demonstrated the power of state-level changes. These changes, enacted through bipartisan and predominantly conservative legislatures, have successfully addressed housing affordability. While they may not be federal changes, they are a beacon of hope, showing that even at the state level, we can make a significant impact on the housing crisis. By implementing a series of achievable state-level changes, both political parties can unite in responding to pressing, community-specific housing needs.
Zoning Reforms Pave the Way for Affordable Housing
Some of the most well-known changes occurred in California, where Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB4 into law. The law allows nonprofits and faith-based institutions to build affordable, multi-family homes on their properties, bypassing local zoning laws.
Zoning laws like these are one of the most significant impediments to increasing the supply of affordable housing across the country. Other states, like Florida and Montana, have also sought to reform their zoning laws.
Florida’s Steps Toward Housing Affordability
In March 2023, although backed by Republican senators and signed by conservative Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida passed the Live Local Act, which targets similarly restrictive zoning rules. This act amended Floria’s zoning rules, investing $700 million in affordable housing for middle-income people through programs such as tax breaks for housing development projects. Projects that build at least 70 housing units affordable for middle-income families, for example, would be exempt from property taxes.
Montana’s Zoning Overhaul: A New Era of Housing Accessibility
Less than two months after Florida passed its Live Local Act, Montana’s majority Republican legislature and Republican Governor Greg Gianforte enacted SB 323. This bill forces cities with a population over 5,000 to allow duplex housing in areas previously designated as single-family neighborhoods. The state also enacted SB 406, which would ensure that local Montana governments could not enact building codes stricter than any state code.
Through zoning laws, California, Florida, and Montana are helping fight housing inaccessibility by addressing the laws that prevent the creation of more housing. These zoning reform laws are not only localized and community-specific, but they critically help to address the root cause behind soaring housing costs and homelessness.
Minneapolis: A Model of Success Through Zoning Changes
While the impact of these laws may take years to fully manifest, the city of Minneapolis has seen remarkable progress in just five years since adopting zoning reforms.
In 2017, the city started to allow denser housing developments while eliminating parking requirements and legalizing the construction of ADUs. ADUs, or accessory dwelling units, are simply secondary units in the same lot as another unit. Most importantly, however, Minneapolis changed the restrictions on single-family zoning, permitting the construction of two-unit and three-unit homes throughout the city.
The result was that five years later, in 2022, Minneapolis had increased its housing supply by 12%. The construction of mid-sized apartment buildings, holding at least 20 units each, was the biggest factor in increasing its housing supply.
Pew Charitable Trusts’ Director of Housing Policy Initiatives, Alex Horowitz, said, “The zoning reforms made apartments feasible. They made them less expensive to build. And [the city was] saying yes when builders submitted applications to build apartment buildings. So they got a lot of new housing in a short period.”
As a result, while rent in the state of Minnesota rose by 14% from 2017 to 2022, in Minneapolis, it rose by only 1%. Even though prices increased slightly, relative housing affordability in Minneapolis increased dramatically, considering factors like inflation and rising wages in the city.
Oregon’s ‘Middle Housing’ Strategy: A Balanced Approach
In contrast to zoning reform, Oregon took a different approach to responding to its housing crisis by passing House Bill 2001 in 2019. It required cities to build “Middle Housing.”
Single-family neighborhoods, in which the majority of the homes are built to house only one family, have impeded Oregon’s ability to increase the number of people it can house. Middle housing, on the other hand, strikes a balance between larger apartment buildings and single-family homes by providing 2-5 housing units on a single property rather than just one.
Many proponents suggest that these homes, rather than large, public-housing apartment buildings, are more versatile and can be built in walkable neighborhoods with various housing types. Because of their versatility, they also supply housing that can meet renters and buyers at various income levels. They can include anything from duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes to townhouses, cottage clusters, or courtyard apartments. Most importantly, they help prevent cities from developing restrictive, smaller housing units that fail to increase the housing supply.
Utah’s Proactive Measures to Boost Housing Development
Most recently, in March, Utah adopted six housing reform bills, each targeting different facets of its housing market. These changes helped encourage investors to develop more housing.
For example, through HB 476, the state now requires cities to accept more applications for residential housing development. HB 465, enacted on the same day, gave housing redevelopment agencies more flexibility in building housing designed for low- and middle-income families. Other bills included offering low-interest loans to developers to build more affordable housing units and increasing the housing density of single-family homes, just as was seen in Oregon and Minneapolis.
Empowering Local Governments to Solve the Housing Shortage
No matter the approach, bills in all these states were most importantly passed, often with support from across the political aisle. The six states mentioned above are not the only ones that have adopted changes. For example, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Washington legislatures have also adopted housing affordability bills just in the past year.
While Federal changes to America’s housing laws may seem unachievable, the success of state-level changes is a testament to their feasibility. States have shown their capacity to pass a multitude of effective laws. As policymakers grapple with America’s worsening housing crisis, the solution may lie in state-level changes, which are more within our reach than larger federal changes.
For those passionate about ending homelessness and increasing the housing supply, consider the power of the local legislature. And for those discouraged by an inability to find affordable housing, remember that change may not be as distant as the political standstill in our nation’s capital may make us think.
Let’s continue the fight to support increasing America’s housing supply, not just in Congress but just as critically, if not more critically, in our local and state governments.
