Housing supply reform — by-right multifamily, zoning liberalization, parking minima

Statement

Liberalizing residential zoning — by-right multifamily near transit, elimination of parking minima, removal of lot-size minima, and elimination of discretionary review for code-compliant proposals — allows housing supply to respond to demand. In a small but growing set of jurisdictions (Auckland, Minneapolis, Houston historically, the 2024 California ADU rules) the policy has measurably increased supply and slowed price growth at the metro scale.

Provenance

Sources

• Furman Center — research on land use and housing supply
  report
  https://furmancenter.org/research
  Empirical evidence that allowing by-right multifamily construction in transit-rich areas materially increases housing supply and slows price growth at the metro scale.
• New Zealand MDRS evaluation — Auckland upzoning
  report · 2023
  https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/business-in-auckland/docsoccasionalpapers/auckland-unitary-plan-monitoring-report.pdf
  Following the 2016 Auckland Unitary Plan upzoning, housing permits and completions rose materially in upzoned areas; rents grew more slowly than in comparable non-upzoned metros.

Causal links