Changing the affordable housing conversation

Today's housing crisis is not rooted in the tech industry and gentrification alone. Instead, 20th-century policies, land use laws, and capital investment restrict the market from delivering a full housing range. Restrict the product offering, and unattainable prices follow.

The neighborhoods we build today are mainly single-use. The proforma likes it that way. The investor can see the return on investment from a single product. And the market taker and homeowner stuck in loss aversion wins the zoning appeal to ban the kinds of housing product many Americans seek to live.

When we let the marketplace work for all, housing choice and product expands. But, it requires a set of policies and manuals that seek to create vibrant, connected, and entrepreneurial neighborhoods, commercial corridors, and employment hubs.

Most communities' zoning laws and investment practices prohibit the same product we used to build pre-1950, known as the missing middle. As a result, the duplex, four-plex, cottages, townhouses, and multiplexes are limited to specific locations or virtually impossible to make.

Imagine these product offerings built today without covenants restricted people based on race, class, or ethnicity. The diversity of housing and product offerings is essential for vibrant, connect, and inclusive places.

Stagnating, declining, and distressed communities will find themselves better positioned by shifting toward zoning laws, practices, and proformas that lead to a broader range of integrated housing options no matter one's stage of life or capital position. We cannot afford to miss the opportunity to build the middle.