Reply to Is there a coherent argument that loosening zoning laws will lead to affordable housing in DC?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I've read every post, and there isn't a single one that offers a coherent explanation of how any of this leads to affordable housing.

If any of this was actually true, why can't anyone explain it?

It's not an outrageous request to say tell me how that would work. [/quote]

Here’s the thinking: cost is a function of supply and demand. Build more housing = reduce costs. Loosening zoning restrictions is one way to make sure that more housing gets built everywhere. It gets rid of over-regulation.

The vision is a city with more duplexes, triplexes, four-plexes, accessory dwelling units, and small multi-unit condo/apartment buildings. These would be by-right developments that neighbors could not protest on the basis of parking, daylight, or zoning concerns. Not every neighborhood would need to have really dense high rises along commercial corridors. So, while apartment and condo construction in NoMa did reduce DC rental prices by 1 percent (and would have reduced them more if supply had not been artificially constrained by developers who held a lot of newly constructed units off the market), we know that not all development sites are appropriate for that level of density. But you could take a block in Manor Park and convert a large corner lot to a four-plex. Maybe a couple of homeowners throw accessory dwelling units in their backyards (if their uncovered land area is large enough to permit it based on DC’s other regulations). Now a block that had about 20 housing units has five more, a 25 percent increase. Since median housing values have increased $150k in the 20011 zip code over the last five years, it doesn’t seem absurd to increase the number of housing units there, particularly since not every block would experience a 25 percent increase, and it construction wouldn’t happen all at once, flooding the market.

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