How an ‘Aversion to Change’ Worsens the Housing Crisis

Pointing to a recent example from Shawnee, Kansas, which recently banned “co-living”—as defined by four or more unrelated adults living together—in response to the growth of companies that convert single-family homes into multi-tenant rentals, Danielle McLean comments that “Municipal zoning regulations that restrict the number of unrelated adults living in a single unit are common across the U.S.” This poses a problem, McLean writes, as the housing market grows increasingly unaffordable.

While cities defend these restrictive regulations as a way to prevent “corporate landlords buying up housing and turning it into unaffordable rentals,” housing experts criticize them “for blocking the development of housing, particularly new affordable housing options.” 

New development often faces opposition from multiple fronts: while some homeowners worry about property values and neighborhood character, housing advocates express concerns about gentrification and displacement. McLean describes the “time-honored tradition” of opposition to multifamily housing, which often strangles housing production and exacerbates the affordability crisis, as well as recent efforts by states such as Massachusetts and California to fight this “aversion to change” by mandating less restrictive zoning and land use policies.

Meanwhile, experts repeatedly remind policymakers that to have a significant impact on housing production, eliminating single-family zoning restrictions is just “part of a broader suite of changes that eliminate other restrictions such as setback and building height requirements and parking limits.”