Cities Start to Question an American Ideal: A House With a Yard on Every Lot

I have felt led to post articles on affordable housing which are appearing with increasing regularity since our nation is undergoing a housing crisis. This article by EMILY BADGER and QUOCTRUNG BUI (NYTimes: JUNE 18, 2019) seemed relevant to our local housing crisis since we keep hearing from our elected officials how their main priority is to “protect single family residences.” By this, they mean that they want to avoid having multifamily or affordable housing near single family residences. They believe this would detrimentally affect property values and the change the “character” of our neighborhoods. They also oppose tall buildings and higher density in areas zoned for multifamily and commercials buildings. They want to preserve the status quo as much as possible. 

The problem is that our city and our state are having a severe housing crisis, and many low and middle income people are being priced out. They can’t afford to live in the city where they work and worship. As people of faith, we need to ask the question: What is more important, property values or human values?

This article provides compelling evidence that single-family zoning is a significant cause of the housing crisis in our cities. It explodes the myth of the free market when it comes to housing. The authors point out: “It is illegal on 75 percent of the residential land in many American cities to build anything other than a detached single-family home.”  In order to create walkable, environmentally friendly and affordable cities, we need to encourage more density and more inclusionary ordinances that set aside a percentage of new development as affordable. –Anthony

Single-family zoning is practically gospel in America, embraced by homeowners and local governments to protect neighborhoods of tidy houses from denser development nearby.

But a number of officials across the country are starting to make seemingly heretical moves. The Oregon legislature this month will consider a law that would end zoning exclusively for single-family homes in most of the state. California lawmakers have drafted a bill that would effectively do the same. In December, the Minneapolis City Council voted to end single-family zoning citywide. The Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Julián Castro have taken up the cause, too.