Minneapolis is doing it. Seattle might be soon, too. Portland is likely to join the club next.
We’re talking about the end of single-family-only zoning in our major neighborhoods—and it’s something Strong Towns has been calling for since we were founded in 2009.
In a series of recent articles, the New York Times has made note of the trend towards major cities allowing all their neighborhoods to evolve beyond the suburban form, and even called for more cities to end exclusionary zoning in a rare op-ed from the editorial board. And they’re not the only ones: more and more major news outlets are beginning to recognize just how destructive it is for cities to limit developers to building the same old detached single-family house over and over again. Some have argued that restrictive zoning is, functionally, just racist redlining by another name; others stress that it shuts non-nuclear families out of our built environment; others think ending it could desegregate our school districts; and that’s just a handful of the headlines from the last three days.
But here at Strong Towns, the main reason why we want to see single family-only zoning finally bite the dust is pretty simple: it makes our places financially fragile. And in this episode of Upzoned, we go deep into why—and what our housing market might look like on the other end of the change.
Would ending single family zoning really bring about an apocalypse for the home values of millions of Americans? How did maintaining universally (and some might say, artificially) high home values become the prerogative of planners and policy makers in the first place? With 75% of all residential land devoted to single-family neighborhoods, what will it really take to change the status quo? And what would our broader economy look like if constantly-rising home values weren’t its very backbone?
Then in the Downzone, Chuck and Kea have a few more summer reading recommendations for you, from Aja Gabel’s powerful (and very beach-friendly) novel, The Ensemble, to the new book from all-time Strong Towns favorite, Jared Diamond.
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One Reason American Architecture Is Considered Boring: Stairs
Cowboy Hotels for Housing Shortages
Homelessness in Rural America
High-Income Earners Are Renting Instead of Buying Homes
When a Building Is Demolished, What Should Happen to the Materials?
The 15 Minute City - A Good Life or an Infringement on Freedoms?
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Portland’s Cully Neighborhood To Use “The One Ring” for Good
The Governor of Missouri Wants to Spend $859 Million on Highway Expansion
The U.S. Is Running Out of Skilled Labor. Is It Gen-Z’s Fault?
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Homeowners Struggling to Get Insurance in Wildfire-Prone Colorado
These 3 Cities Are Eliminating Parking Minimums. Are They Going About It the Right Way?
Why Is It So Expensive To Build Public Transit in the U.S.?
This Man Overcame Homelessness by Building His Own Tiny Home…on Hollywood Boulevard!
What Does the ”Airbnbust” Mean for the Housing Market?
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