The Housing Crisis: No Longer Just a Coastal Concern

The pandemic accelerated existing trends and created unsustainable housing demand in a wider range of towns and cities, exacerbated by outdated zoning restrictions.

2 minute read

August 17, 2022, 12:00 PM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


South San Jose houses

SchuminWeb / Wikimedia Commons

The pandemic was predicted to reduce housing costs as people freed by remote work scattered to more affordable markets and reduced pressure on housing stock in hyper-expensive ‘superstar’ cities. But as M. Nolan Gray writes in The Atlantic, “In reality, two years later, housing costs in those superstar metros are at record highs, while the wave of pandemic-era migrations has helped spread the affordability crisis nationwide.”

According to Gray, “You don’t need to study economics to know that surging demand amid stagnant supply causes prices to rise. According to the Case-Shiller Index, nationwide home prices jumped by nearly 20 percent last year alone,” making even historically affordable towns out of reach for local residents.

For Gray, whose recent book, Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It, highlights the ‘arbitrary constraints’ that keep American housing expensive such as parking requirements and multifamily housing bans, “If we want to contain the spread of high housing costs, these constraints have to go.” These restrictions don’t just affect major cities with already tight housing markets: “Duplexes and fourplexes are banned in 84 percent of residential neighborhoods in Charlotte. In Salt Lake City, minimum-parking mandates mean that apartments can’t be built without either towering garages or huge lots. In Austin, naysayers have successfully delayed a liberalizing zoning overhaul for a decade.”

With land becoming scarce in many cities, wildfires and flooding threatening the wildland-urban interface, and housing costs rising rapidly in more places, affordability is no longer an exclusively coastal concern.

Wednesday, August 10, 2022 in The Atlantic

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

Rethinking Redlining

For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

May 15, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Interior of Place Versailles mall in Montreal, Canada.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units

Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

May 22, 2025 - CBC

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

May 21, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

View from hilltop residential neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, California on a cloudy day.

LA Falling Behind on Housing Goals

Last year, the city permitted just 30 percent of the number of housing units needed to meet a growing need.

May 27 - LAist

Canada geese and ducks on the shore of a lake with red brick boathouse in background across the lake in Lincoln Park, Los Angeles.

Connecting Communities to Nature Close to Home

Los Angeles County’s Nature in Your Neighborhood program brings free, family-friendly wellness and nature activities to local parks, making it easier for residents to enjoy and connect with the outdoors.

May 27 - Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation

Children inside large slide at water park.

Palmdale’s Beloved Water Park Gets $2 Million Upgrade

To mark its 20th anniversary, DryTown Water Park has undergone major renovations, ensuring that families across the Antelope Valley continue to enjoy safe, affordable, and much-needed water-based recreation in the high desert.

May 27 - Antelope Valley Press

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.