Each of the builders noted the challenges posed by various regulations—from zoning ordinances to strict building codes to aesthetic mandates. One builder, representing the large-volume company, noted that of all their regions nationwide, Minnesota is their territory with the lowest profit margins. This highlights how hard it is to build affordable housing in our state.
Success Stories: Housing Leaders Share 2023 Housing Reform Victories
The day continued with a panel comprised of housing advocates from across the country—with leaders from Montana, California, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. sharing how they saw legislation passed in their respective states in 2023. The story out of Montana is especially noteworthy: having achieved sweeping housing reform, their 2023 success has come to be known as the “Montana miracle.” Through bipartisan support, lobbyists and legislators effectively re-wrote the state’s zoning code, allowing for mixed use multi-family and commercial spaces, duplexes in all cities, permitting accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and more.
To achieve bi-partisan support, housing lobbyists in Montana used a “zoning atlas” to demonstrate to legislators that the zoning in Montana (prior to this reform) was closely aligned with that of the city of Los Angeles. And when it comes to housing affordability challenges across the country, L.A. is not a place anyone wants to imitate.
Leading Journalist Lends her Voice on Housing Affordability
Jerusalem Demsas, a journalist for The Atlantic and author of the well-known piece Housing Breaks People’s Brains, covered a wide range of topics pertaining to America’s housing affordability problem. Notably, she argued that most people tend to understand the economic dynamics of supply and demand in every industry aside from housing. According to Demsas, this has led to attempts to tackle various tertiary solutions to our housing shortage, rather than simply focusing our efforts on solving the supply problem by building more housing.