MINNEAPOLIS STUDY: Elimination of Single-Family Zoning Increases Housing Costs for Small Properties in Inexpensive Neighborhoods
Upzoning advocates frequently cite Minneapolis as a model for upzoning, including for the elimination of single-family zones (2018). Researcher Daniel Kuhlmann found that contrary to making housing more affordable, upzoning resulted in a three to five percent increase in property costs, “most directly to relatively small properties and those in inexpensive neighborhoods.” He cautions, “Planners should thus be sensitive to how this type of change can affect housing affordability and housing stock diversity.”
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2020.1852101
MINNEAPOLIS REPORTS: Elimination of Single-Family Zoning Has Negligible Impact on Housing Supply and New Authorities Are Misused
Recent reports evaluating the impact of zoning reform in Minneapolis, including elimination of single-family zones, shows that housing costs have continued to increase, while the promises of a surge in supply have fallen well short. One found that “If things continue at this pace, ending single-family zoning will have increased the city’s housing supply by just 1% by 2040. … So, the plan isn’t revolutionizing housing in Minneapolis …” Another reported a resident showing the reality that developers use these new authorities “to pack in more people, get rid of cars, and price out neighbors.”
CHICAGO UPZONING STUDY: Upzoning Increased Housing Costs in City of Chicago
Researcher Yonah Freemark traced the effects of upzoning in the City of Chicago over a period of five years, finding “significant, robust” increases in property costs for parcels that were allowed a boost in building capacity, and the value of existing condominiums. He also found no impacts on the number of newly permitted dwellings over five years, concluding, “As such, I demonstrate that the short-term, local-level impacts of upzoning are higher property prices but no additional new housing construction.”
Maryland’s MoCo Executive Rejects “Koch Bros” Density Policies Leading to Displacement and Excessive Gentrification
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, who describes himself as a committed progressive, has publicly rejected high density policies pushed by developers. The issue was front and center in his successful 2022 re-election campaign. Speaking to local media, Elrich describes his opposition to upzoning schemes that result in “net loss” to affordable housing in MoCo. He notes, “My opponents subscribe to the Koch Brothers/American Enterprise Institute belief that simply building more market-rate housing will solve this problem – I don’t believe in TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS, and if it were true the growth of market housing in this region beginning in the 1980s should have solved the affordability problem long ago.”
https://moco360.media/2023/03/20/elrich-outlines-his-plan-for-mocos-housing-crisis/
MORE: https://www.marcelrich.org/housing
FAIRFAX PATCH: Candidates Endorsed by YIMBYs of NOVA Oppose Upzoning of Single-Family Zones
According to an August 28, 2023, article in the Patch, two candidates for Fairfax County Board who are backed by a pro-housing YIMBY group are against upzoning in single-family zones. Andres Jiminez (D) said that density is appropriate near mass transit hubs, such as Metro stations, but not for single-family neighborhoods. Meanwhile, Jimmy Bierman (D) expressed the need for great caution before upzoning single-family neighborhoods. In his view, upzoning does little or nothing for affordability or diversity. Both want to wait and see what happens with Arlington’s newly adopted “Missing Middle” reforms. Meanwhile, Independent candidate Christoper Morgan said he will fight to protect Fairfax County from make the same zoning “mistakes” that have occurred in Arlington and his former home city of San Diego, California, citing personal experience with negative impacts to quality of life, the environment, and parking.
ALEXANDRIA TIMES: Alexandria Has Greater Housing Density than Chicago, Los Angeles, and Queens County, NY
Based on a 2022 analysis of the housing stock in Alexandria, the Alexandria Times reports that “more than half (52%) of Alexandria’s housing units are inside buildings of 10 or more units – more than major urban centers like Brooklyn (45%), Queens County, NY (37%), Los Angeles (37%), Minneapolis (37%), Chicago (31%), and Philadelphia (16%). Only 14% of housing units Alexandria are detached single-family homes, placing the city on par with large cities like Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. – and lower than Los Angeles (38%), Chicago (27%) and Queens (20%). For local comparison, Fairfax County is at 47% detached single-family homes and Arlington County at 27%. Nationally, single-family homes are 63% of all housing units.” The existing gap between multi-unit buildings and single-family homes is larger in Alexandria than nearly every other locality of more than 50,000 housing units in the nation. Since 2020, City annual reports show single-family homes have fallen to 11 percent of all housing units, one of the lowest rates in the U.S. If there is a shortage of housing in Alexandria, it is a shortage of single family homes.
https://alextimes.com/2022/11/your-views-census-shows-alexandria-more-dense-than-l-a-chicago-queens/
CURRENT AFFAIRS: The Only Thing Worse Than a NIMBY is a YIMBY
This 2021 piece by Nathan Robinson warns against “pro-development activists [who] try to trick you into thinking it helps the poor to destroy neighborhoods to make way for luxury condos.” He adds that while YIMBYism is typically portrayed as “the forces of progress and social justice fighting against wealthy entrenched interests,” this characterization is misleading. “As a Guardian report on the phenomenon noted, YIMBYs are not anti-capitalists. They are allies of developers who believe in letting the “free market” determine what kind of housing will be built.”
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/01/the-only-thing-worse-than-a-nimby-is-a-yimby
Washington Blog: What Do Yimbys of NOVA really want?
This December 2022 post traces the backgrounds of several leaders of the Yimbys of NOVA pro-housing group, raising questions about ties to entities backing adoption of pro-developer policies. Notably, it states that YIMBYs of NOVA has received grant funding from Emergent Ventures, a fellowship program out of George Mason’s Mercatus Center that was launched partly by a grant from the Peter Thiel Foundation to advance libertarian business ideas.
https://washingtonsocialist.mdcdsa.org/ws-articles/22-12-nova-yimbys
What Charles Koch and Other Donors to George Mason University Got for Their Money - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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