NewsA report recently published by Harvard University’s Center for Housing Studies (Could Legalizing Mid-Rise Single-Stair Housing Expand and Improve Housing Supply? | Joint Center for Housing Studies) examines how zoning regulation reform may unlock housing development in the Boston metropolitan region. Boston, like our region, is a land-constrained region where new and creative housing solutions are needed to address ongoing housing supply imbalances. As the report notes, a lack of new housing development continues to contribute to housing affordability challenges at the national, state, regional and local levels.
Current building code in Massachusetts requires buildings of more than 3 stories or 12 units to have at least 2 staircases for egress. In the report, Harvard examines how a proposed, technical zoning change raising the maximum height for single-staircase buildings from 3 stories to 6 stories may create a pathway for the development of as many as 130,000 new housing units across Massachusetts on smaller parcels of underutilized land.
Our region shares many parallels to Boston, especially with respect to housing challenges. New York is similar to Boston in that rental housing development is hindered by high land costs that are inflated by the lack of available land buildable for multifamily rental housing. Specifically, Long Island has fewer available rental options than most other suburban areas in the metropolitan region, and the Regional Plan Association estimates that Long Island needs to construct 100,000 to 150,000 additional units of rental housing to meet current and projected demand. The shortage of affordable rental housing is straining the regional economy and making it difficult to attract and retain talented and skilled workers and young professionals.
One major impediment to housing development on Long Island is “home rule.” In New York State all zoning decisions are made by the municipality overseeing that piece of land; on Long Island, this totals almost 115 separate government entities. The development of 3-family homes – which includes multifamily apartment buildings – is permitted “as of right” on less than 4% of buildable land in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Developers looking to construct rental housing on Long Island must therefore navigate a lengthy, expensive and complex approval process that often involves multiple layers of government and stakeholders. Unfortunately, due to socio-political opposition, particularly from community leaders and residents, simply increasing “as of right” zoning for multifamily housing does not appear to be a viable solution to the housing problem on Long Island.
It’s true, the Harvard report doesn’t present a “silver bullet” solution for Long Island’s housing crisis. Rather, the report presents a case study that can be used to tackle the housing crisis on Long Island head on. The proposed building code change in Boston was brought about by revisiting and re-examining housing, zoning and building laws to identify and problem solve for roadblocks that prevent, restrict and/or impede the development of housing. The report confirms that responsible, and proactive policy changes have the potential to dramatically alter the landscape and spur the creation of hundreds of thousands of “net new” housing units. This would drive the ability to retain talented and skilled workers and young professionals in the region, as well as stimulate economic development.
As Massachusetts leaders keep searching for solutions to the housing crunch, a top academic institution is pointing to the role the state’s building codes play in restricting multifamily development.
