Zoned out: How today’s homeowners make housing unaffordable for everyone else

At a routine zoning meeting, a homeowner steps to the microphone and delivers a familiar warning: new apartments will “hurt property values” and “change the character of the neighborhood.” This scene plays out in cities across the country, as housing reform proposals move from local councils to statehouses — and now, to the federal government. 

These claims are pervasive and persistent. They are also, despite their intuitive appeal, not supported by the evidence.

The fear is understandable. Allowing duplexes or small apartment buildings in single-family neighborhoods can feel like a fundamental change. If new construction is meant to lower housing costs, it seems logical to assume it will lower nearby home values as well. 

In response, homeowners mobilize through neighborhood commissions, lawsuits and sustained pressure on local officials. These efforts rarely stop development outright, but they delay it, shrink it, and make it more expensive — often significantly so. The result is higher construction costs and fewer homes built.

Those existing homeowners are often unconcerned with increased housing costs because it is their homes whose values rise. Those costs fall most heavily on renters, first-time buyers, and younger families — would-be neighbors not represented at those zoning meetings. 

Some cities, such as Raleigh, N.C., and New York City, have acted to reduce the........

© The Hill