The Hill, January 22, 2020: Is this the beginning of the end of America’s housing crisis?
As the new decade kicks off, there are finally some signs that America’s housing crisis might be starting to abate. Recently, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published an update to its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. It will ease the onerous restrictions on localities seeking federal funding, instead encouraging municipalities to allow more housing to be built, increasing affordability. Furthermore, more states are now following California’s lead in making it easier to increase housing options by preventing localities from adopting restrictive zoning rules that often make building additional housing next to impossible.
These developments will not only ease the financial pressure on Americans already living in high-cost urban areas but also help put the American Dream within reach for the millions of families living in economically depressed areas across the country. These changes make it easier to access opportunities that astronomically high housing costs currently render out of reach. Restrictive zoning laws, regulations requiring minimum lot sizes, lengthy environmental review requirements and other land-use restrictions have served to artificially inflate the costs of housing for years, particularly in the nation’s prospering cities. They do so by severely restricting the amount of new housing that can be built as populations increase. This has made accessing opportunity even tougher and is a major part of why so many Americans seem to be stuck in place.
Ultimately, the lack of affordable housing across much of the country is a problem from which America can only build its way out. A functioning housing market where supply is allowed to meet demand is still a ways off. But reaching that goal is an essential step to ensuring that the next generation of Americans have the opportunity to live their American dream.
