Obama Administration Comments on Zoning Rules

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The Obama administration has thrown its hat into the national conversation on zoning, arguing that zoning laws need to be reevaluated across the country in order to help fight against economic inequality and stagnation.

The argument runs that it is too hard to build certain kinds of buildings in some areas, thanks to environmentalists, lobbyists, and the not-in-my-back-yard crowd, who have become known as NIMBYs because they put up a fight whenever new development might happen in their neighborhood.

According to the Obama administration, the refusal of NIMBYs to allow for construction of apartment buildings and the likes means there are parts of the country that are resistant to increasing population density, which drives up the cost of property and makes it increasingly difficult for lower-income people to find affordable, worthwhile housing.

While the 2008 housing market crash left empty homes across the country, they’re still too expensive for many people to buy or rent, which contributes to a growing housing crisis. This is why the administration has created what it refers to as a toolkit to help municipal officials take an evidence-based stand against the NIMBYs who often dominate planning meetings.

But many municipalities are antagonistic to increasing density, often citing, consciously or not, older perceptions of what America should look like, i.e. spread out in suburbs that do not make efficient use of space. The image grew during the Cold War as an antithesis to the dense living conditions of Soviet cities, but is increasingly unrealistic from both an economic and ecological point of view.

This is why the Obama administration has chosen to focus on increased population density and streamlining the process of getting new construction projects underway.

“In more and more regions across the country, local and neighborhood leaders have said yes in our backyard,” says the toolkit. “We need to break down the rules that stand in the way of building new housing.”

President Obama has allocated $300 million in the next budget in grants to help update zoning rules. However, that budget requires Congressional approval, so whether or not it will pass depends largely on the outcome of the upcoming election.