Recent research study commissioned in Austin - should be required reading for all upzoning supporters. Top conclusions of Austin upzoning: based on faulty assumptions that rely on deeply flawed research which itself is not supported by evidence, as well as on research that is not applicable to the Austin context; the increase in land and housing prices in Austin in recent years are the results of fundamental dynamics of urban land markets, long known in the literature, and not due to zoning or other “constraints” on supply. They are the outcomes of market processes, not a distortion of them; upzoning unlikely to achieve its goals of increasing affordability in Austin and will likely lead to higher property values throughout the city, as well as continued gentrification and displacement in lower-income neighborhoods. (2024)
Underdevelopment despite Upzoning. Recent study findings on Charlottesville, VA suggests that the conventional story about the effects of local land use regulations on landowner behavior is not straightforward, that zoning classifications may not be the primary constraint on housing supply, and that the elimination of restrictive zoning, absent other interventions, may have relatively small effects on housing supply and/or affordability in a given jurisdiction. (2024)
A new national report . According to the newly released report by the Texas Housers, neither Houston’s lax land-use controls nor Austin’s prolific multifamily construction has been successful in making housing affordable for the lowest income households. (2024)
The Market Alone Can’t Fix the U.S. Housing Crisis. Research from around the world shows that more permissive zoning rules do not, by themselves, lead to a major increase in housing supply, let alone more affordable housing. Harvard Business Review (2024)
Will Austin’s YIMBY lot-size reductions create affordable housing? “I’ve seen no convincing evidence that these newly developed smaller lots will be any more affordable to the average Austinite, especially compared to the quality of life that will be sacrificed in exchange,” City Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly. (2024)
Housing Prices Are Too High. Building More Homes Won’t Solve the Problem - Barrons (2024)
Study finds US does not have housing shortage, but shortage of affordable housing. (2024)
What State Housing Policies Do Voters Want? Evidence from a Platform-Choice Experiment by Christopher S. Elmendorf, Clayton Nall, Stan Oklobdzija :: SSRN. Restricting Wall St home buyers = Most support! Allowing construction of more market-rate infill housing = Least support! Survey of 5,000 voters nationally. (2024)
No Single Policy Will Increase Housing Affordability. We Need a Comprehensive Strategy. | Urban Institute. (2024)
Faculty Research Reveals Insights on Whether ‘Upzoning’ To Encourage Homebuilding Works. Home prices keep rising and some blame restrictive zoning laws for limiting new housing supply. But zoning laws may not be the culprit, according to new research by Professor Richard Schragger and co-author Sarah New at the University of Virginia School of Law. (2024)
What State Housing Policies Do Voters Want? Evidence from a Platform-Choice Experiment. A tacit assumption of YIMBY (``Yes In My Backyard'') activists is that more public attention to housing affordability will engender more support for their policy agenda of removing regulatory barriers to dense market-rate housing. Yet recent research finds that the mass public has little conviction that more housing supply would improve affordability, which in turn raises questions about the depth of public support for supply-side policies (2024)
Investors are breaking the housing market. Bipartisan response is needed to Wall Street’s housing spree. (2023)
Texas’ poorest renters face a shortage of 679,000 rental homes they can actually afford. the private market cannot address the problem of providing affordable housing for low income residents. (2024)
The Auckland upzoning myth: Response to comments. We identified three major flaws in a landmark paper about the construction effects of upzoning. No-one disagreed with these flaws. Now we respond to three new questions. This scholarly piece that refutes the claim, based on Auckland’s upzoning, that upzoning produces more housing and lowers prices. (2023)