For years Americans have been concerned with rising home prices, and, at least grudgingly, recognized that one way to bring down those costs was to build more housing. But many drew the line on building those new homes in their own neighborhood—what made NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) one of the most recognized rallying cries in local politics.
A newly released Cato Institute National Survey of 2,000 adults, conducted by YouGov, suggests that the tides may be slowly shifting. The road to housing reform remains bumpy—but it is not impassable.
That is fortunate, because housing affordability is one of the most significant economic issues today and zoning regulations that limit home building are one of the greatest barriers to housing affordability. Without public support, it is difficult to make necessary changes to improve housing supply and reduce costs.
Recent research finds that zoning regulations push up the cost of housing by more than $300,000 or $400,000 per quarter of an acre in cities including San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle. In New York, the “zoning tax” on housing was estimated at more than $500,000 per quarter of an acre near the urban core in 2018.
With regulatory burdens that high, interest rates continuing to climb, and continued inflationary pressures on housing, it is no wonder that Americans are deeply concerned about housing costs. In the survey, fully 87 percent of Americans are at least “somewhat concerned” about housing costs, and 61 percent are either “very” or “extremely” concerned. Roughly 69 percent are worried that their children or grandchildren will not be able to afford a home, and a majority of Americans do not believe they could afford to buy the house they live in today.
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