A National Consensus on Zoning? Not So Fast

Daniel Hertz responds some of the points made in recent, high-profile arguments in favor of zoning reform to spur development in urban areas. Specifically, Ilya Somin recently claimed that there's a "cross-ideological consensus" about the need for zoning reform. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and the White House showed evidence of a willingness among liberals to relax zoning regulations to spur development.

Hertz, however, argues that such a rosy picture about a consensus that reform looks like regulation neglects all the people fighting zoning reform at the local level.: "anyone who thinks there is a 'consensus' about the damage caused by too-strict zoning ought to attend the next community development meeting in their neighborhood." Far from the pro-development, anti-regulation consensus arguably found among wonks, the consensus at the local level might be quite the opposite, according to Hertz: "Arguably, something very close to a consensus has existed on zoning for quite some time—at least since the 1970s—and it’s not that it’s too strict. It’s that it’s doing a great job, and if anything needs to be stricter."

The article goes on to present some ideas for how to reform zoning in ways that work with these political (and financial, in the case of homeowners) realities in mind.