Increasing Housing Supply, What Is Working, and Addressing NIMBYism

Increasing Housing Supply, What Is Working, and Addressing NIMBYism.

According to the American Enterprise Institute Housing Center, the Federal Government has been focusing on demand, not supply, by making it easier to get a mortgage and lower interest rates. To solve the housing crisis, the Center finds that there needs to be more focus at both the federal and local levels on creating more supply to meet the existing demand. Permitting and building more housing relative to the jobs and wages increases will tamp down prices.

Local governments can make changes in regulatory policies in zoning and land use requirements. Among the ideas from AEI to increase the supply are reducing lot size, allowing parcels to have more than one unit, and minimizing parking requirements. Examples of areas that are implementing zoning and land use changes to increase supply will be discussed.

A report on a new concept of "light touch density" was released this summer in a series of policy briefs on zoning, land use, and a solution to help alleviate the nation's housing shortage. Here is a link to the document:

https://www.aei.org/light-touch-density/

Speaker Bio:

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) senior fellow Edward J. Pinto is the codirector of AEI Housing Center. The Center monitors US markets using a unique set of Housing Market Indicators. Pinto is currently researching the use of light-touch density and Livable Urban Villages to increase the supply of naturally occurring affordable housing across the United States. Active in housing finance for 50 years, he was an executive vice president and chief credit officer for Fannie Mae until the late 1980s.

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