Housing Options Expand as Lots and Homes Get Smaller
Housing development within the United States needs a makeover. Past trends guided by regulations have led to a market saturated with single-family homes, garden apartments and condominiums, with little variety in between.
A recent New York Times article emphasized how zoning regulations have created a dichotomy between single-family detached homes and large multifamily buildings, with single-family development favored across the country. This has led to supply shortages and issues in affordability.
Other research has revealed that there is a “missing middle” in housing types. A greater mix — not simply a supply increase — of housing types is needed to meet an increasing diversity of income, households and generational needs.
NAHB’s new “Diversifying Housing Options with Smaller Lots and Smaller Homes” report explores the issues involved in generating this greater mix, such as smaller homes, duplexes, townhouses, small-scale multifamily and accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and provides relevant best practices on regulatory and design options and barriers.
Some of the key findings illustrate:
- How increasing multifamily development can be done effectively through infill housing approaches, and
- Why both a greater supply of housing and a greater diversity of housing types are required to meet the today’s increasingly diverse demographic of needs.
- Deborah Myerson, a planning consultant, produced two recent pieces regarding these topics: how communities across the country are optimizing the use of ADUs, and how form-based codes can help expand housing supply.
- NAHB's Housing For All webpage includes key strategies and examples that can be used as conversation starters and a blueprint for collaboration with local officials, planners and policymakers.
- NAHB’s Land Use 101 toolkit identify more tools and techniques, including details about the various players involved in closing the financing gap and getting viable, attractive projects built.