When The American Dream Becomes Too Costly

Communities and homeowners across the nation are still struggling with rising home prices and affordability, according to the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB). 

The NAHB, which attributes information to The Hill, said cities such as Washington D.C. are seeing home prices outpace incomes. One of the issues is single-family zoning restrictions that prohibit the types of housing that can be built to help make homes more affordable. 

“Land-use regulations tend to make it so that there’s less housing and more expensive types of housing, like detached single-family homes, than what people would prefer,” shared Emily Hamilton of George Mason University. “A huge focus has rightly been on detached single-family zoning, which means that home builders can only build a single-family home on its own lot, blocking out more affordable types of housing, like apartments or even duplexes or triplexes that allow one piece of expensive land to be shared by multiple households.”

The NAHB states that a little more than one-third of Washington D.C. is zoned for single-family, while cities such as Minneapols; Los Angeles; and Charlotte, North Carolina, have between 70% to 85% earmarked for single-family housing. 

“Friends in Maine, friends in Minnesota, we talk to them about home prices and I think they’re laughing about how much less expensive it is up there, and I think we’re crying to hear how inexpensive their homes are,” Brian Halma, a owner in Wheaton, Maryland, to the NAHB. 

Brian Halma, along with his wife Amber Palmer-Halma, both work full-time jobs but dip into savings to pay their mortgage. The couple plans to move to Nashville, Tennessee, and rent for a year to save money.

“We can’t have the kind of life that we want to have where we’re able to have a balance of work and time with our family, and do it [in Washington D.C.],” Amber Palmer-Halma said. 

States such as Oregon and Minnesota passed legislation hoping to increase housing density. Oregon’s House Bill 2001 went into effect on August 8, 2019, and mandates that cities with a population of more than or equal to 25,000 must allow high-density zoning on development’s previously reserved for single-family housing. 

Virginia House Delegate Ibraheem Samirah, representing parts of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in suburban Washington D.C., introduced HB 152 in December. The bill also includes a proposal to legalize accessory dwelling units throughout Virginia. 

The bill would legalize duplex homes, townhouses, and cottages in any place currently zoned for single-family housing. 

View the full video clip here.