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To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning : NPR


Duel signs dotted Virginia’s Arlington County as residents debate proposed zoning reform. This photo first appeared in DCist. Click This to read that story.

Margaret Barthel / WAMU / DCist


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Margaret Barthel / WAMU / DCist


Duel signs dotted Virginia’s Arlington County as residents debate proposed zoning reform. This photo first appeared in DCist. Click This to read that story.

Margaret Barthel / WAMU / DCist

Tara Siegel and her partner love living in Arlington, Va., just outside of Washington, DC, but they really wanted more space than the two-bedroom apartment they rented. Recently, they started looking for places to buy on Zillow.

“We’ve seen a lot of homes,” Siegel said, “but when we brought it back to where we could afford it, what was our price range, suddenly all the homes were all over. All disappeared.”

It was a rude surprise. Couples make on local median household income, which is more than 120,000 dollars. They know homes that can run into the millions of dollars, but it turns out that even 20 or 3 bedroom apartments are too expensive.

Siegel, 35, and a contractor for the State Department, said: “It’s sad for me and makes me feel depressed… for our community.

Arlington is one of the growing cities numbers belong to location Debate over the end of zoning duties for one family has defined iconic American suburbs. The hope is to create housing that more people like Siegel can afford, but the changes are controversial.

Three states — Oregon, california And Maine – and some cities have expanded their plans. Real estate experts say here is the key to finally end serious lack of housing — a shortage of millions of homes — that’s the main driver of sky-high house prices. These new laws legalize all types of housing that have been banned for generations, including duplexes, townhouses, and smaller apartment buildings. It’s called the “gap between” and is intended to fill the gap between single-family homes and high-rise apartments.

Advocates are motivated by more than affordability. racial equality was a target, as many single-family zoning laws were used to distinguish cities by race and class. And denser housing can help reduce reliance on cars and long journeys exacerbating climate change.

Zoning changes also address a severe demographic mismatch. Most residential land in many cities is reserved for larger and larger independent homes, even as the average size of households has shrunk: Today, almost two thirds is just 1 or 2 people.

Comfortable single zoning is controversial and many homeowners oppose

Despite the growing push for denser housing, these decisions can be hard to come by. In fact, following the backlash in Gainesville, Fla., recent city commissioners move to reverse last year’s decision to terminate the single-family partition.

On a Saturday in January, Arlington County Council got ready for five hours of public comment from more than 150 people. Community sentiment about the missing plan in the middle has been sharply divided.

“Our streets can’t handle that,” said rival Michael Lynch. “The neighborhood can’t solve that. The school system can’t solve that. And the city infrastructure can’t solve it.”

Many existing homeowners fear the increased density will lead to parking nightmares, less greenery, overtaxed county services, and more impervious surfaces possible. cause flooding. They also worry that it will change the character of their residential areas and they want apartment buildings located in dense commercial corridors.

Julie Lee, president of the neighborhood civic association and founding member of the community, said: “We didn’t have the space to incorporate a city or urbanized life into this small village of ours. a community that we have”. Arlingtonians support greater transparencya planned battle group.

Lee said housing “missing in the middle” would still be too costly for many people. And she worries that the plan could further encourage the demolition of smaller, more affordable single-family homes in favor of potentially expensive multi-family units.

Advocates like County Council member Katie Cristol say it’s important to change zoning rules that have long valued families of color. And she worries about the growing gap between multi-million dollar single-family homes and subsidized affordable housing — and those who are falling into it.

“We risk losing the future of … young to middle-aged professionals who want to make Arlington a permanent home,” says Cristol. That’s a fair amount of people, she adds — Arlington is home to the majority of tenants, and the city’s largest age demographic is between 25 and 34.

After two days of controversial public comments, Arlington’s board scaled back key aspects of the plan currently under final review, in an attempt to appease opponents. It lowered the maximum number of units the board could ultimately approve from eight to six. And it added an option that says buildings of five to six units can only be built near public transit or on sites larger than 12,000 square feet. That means many parts of the county will only be available to homes with two to four units.

The move brings condemn from the Arlington NAACP, their president tweeted, “This is de facto segregation and our leaders missed the mark in such a historic vote.”

A final vote, which will solidify the details of the policy, is scheduled for March.

Supporters and opponents of the proposed plan to eliminate most single-family zoning in Arlington, Va., attend a public hearing on Jan. 21. This photo appears First time on DCist. Click This to read that story.

Mike Maguire /WAMU/ DCist


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Mike Maguire /WAMU/ DCist


Supporters and opponents of the proposed plan to eliminate most single-family zoning in Arlington, Va., attend a public hearing on Jan. 21. This photo appears First time on DCist. Click This to read that story.

Mike Maguire /WAMU/ DCist

The new zoning law has not created many new housing so far

The “missing in the middle” partition changes are specifically designed so that neighborhoods don’t get completely transformed overnight. They may limit the amount of construction that can take place each year, and it could take decades for a major change. Home construction in general has also slowed over the past year.

However, the small amount of housing built to date in places where zoning laws have been passed provides a reality check.

“It remains unclear whether this wave of local and state zoning changes will result in a significant number of new homes,” one person concluded. recent analysis by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley.

The researchers held roundtable conversations with developers in seven states to understand what was hindering construction.

Co-author David Garcia said: “I was surprised that there wasn’t much enthusiasm around building these types of smaller-scale housing among the developers we interviewed. “There’s a belief that planning is the key to unlocking all these new housing units and I think maybe that’s more like the first step.”

The report identifies a number of barriers. One example: Garcia said it simply wouldn’t work if a developer had to fit a four-unit building in the same space they placed a 2,000 square foot home in. He says cities need other design and land-use changes to allow for more square feet, and perhaps a smaller setback from the street. Terminating a parking requirement can free up space that would otherwise be used for driveways.

Another barrier is the high cost of construction and land, a big challenge in places like california. Garcia says it makes the economics of two- to four-unit buildings difficult; The developers say they find six to eight units or more financially viable.

He cites Portland, Ore., as a model for making changes beyond zoning that have helped the city allow dozens of four-story apartments. He hopes other cities can use these lessons to develop the most effective policies.

An advantage for developers: The “missing in the middle” partition law often allows them to avoid neighborhood protest and the appeals process brought many housing projects to a halt.

“The attraction brings unpredictability and risk to a construction company. And when you’re talking about small construction companies,” said Eli Spevak, who owns a company called Orange Splot in Portland. , they can’t take that risk.”

He is developing two townhouses and several six-unit buildings, which will not be appealed. “If you tick all the boxes – and it’s a long list – you’re guaranteed to get a building permit.”

Newly built ‘missing middle’ homes will remain out of reach for many

For the most part, “lack of average” housing isn’t for the lowest-income Americans, although the law may include incentives for that. Spevak was only allowed to build six because three of them would be publicly subsidized.

The majority of these duplexes and other multifamily homes are market rates and that’s not really affordable for a lot of people right now. However, they can cost less than single-family homes in the same neighborhood. Spevak said his unsubsidized apartments will sell for between $400,000, while homes nearby are priced between $700,000 and $800,000.

In Arlington, county own estimate found that newly developed duplexes will cost over $1.1 million, which is actually higher than some of its older, smaller single-family homes. Proponents of the zoning change say those units will become relatively more affordable as they age over time.

F0r now, that doesn’t help much for Tara Siegel, the tenant who wants a bigger place. Since then, she and her partner have paused their home search in Arlington and are questioning whether they really want to buy a home. But she still supports the zoning proposal.

“I probably wouldn’t be in Arlington for that,” Siegel said, “but ‘missing in the middle’ might help some people.”

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