And there we are.
One post lays out the problem in full
NOT IN MY BACKYARD!
But we will start out with the question why?
We have a 5 million deficit in residential units, driving up prices and directly causing homelessness in many cases, and unnecessary costs for millions of people.
And almost all that shortage is self inflicted by zoning authorities. Zoning that either outright prohibits or makes virtually impossible the construction of high density residential. There will NEVER be enough single family homes to supply residency needs and even if there were, many people cannot afford the cost.
Believe it or not, it is quite possible to lay out development so that a single family home is not sitting directly across the street from a mid rise. There can be zones of mixed high density within larger zones of single family, with separate entrances.
City planners just need to accept the lower tax revenues (offset by reduced infrastructure needs) that come from greater density of housing. They also need to stop giving into NIMBYism.
And a moderate amount of high density is NOT going to turn the suburbs into an urban warzone.
In a VERY rare show of productive legislating, California has banned single family residential zoning statewide. Extreme, but in California’s case absolutely necessary. Several cities around the country have done so as well.
Other cities with zoning issues need to step up and reform their zoning ordinances.
Now I don’t support abolition of single family zoning where it is not necessary and I recognize that each city is unique. Some cities have sufficient housing and do not need reform. Others have a smaller shortage, requiring a smaller level of reform.
But where there is a severe shortage of housing, existing single family zoning needs to be converted to medium or high density residential and if necessary, developers should be required to construct medium or high density as a specified percentage of their total construction, until housing shortages are mitigated.
Another fix is the conversion of outdated commercial zoned property to high density residential or mixed residential commercial.
But above all, there should be no structural barrier to building high density residential as long as a severe housing shortage exists.