00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page i Growth Management and Affordable Housing 00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page ii james a. johnson metro series The Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy at the Brookings Institution is integrating research and practical experience into a pol- icy agenda for cities and metropolitan areas. By bringing fresh analy- ses and policy ideas to the public debate, the center hopes to inform key decisionmakers and civic leaders in ways that will spur meaning- ful change in our nation’s communities. As part of this effort, the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy has established the James A. Johnson Metro Series to introduce new perspectives and policy thinking on current issues and attempt to lay the foundation for longer-term policy reforms. The series examines traditional urban issues, such as neighborhood assets and cen- tral city competitiveness, as well as larger metropolitan concerns, such as regional growth, development, and employment patterns. The James A. Johnson Metro Series consists of concise studies and collections of essays designed to appeal to a broad audience. While these studies are formally reviewed, some are not verified like other research publications. As with all publications, the judgments, conclusions, and recommendations presented in the studies are solely those of the authors and should not be attributed to the trustees, officers, or other staff members of the Institution. Also available in this series: Edgeless Cities: Exploring the Elusive Metropolis Robert E. Lang Evaluating Gun Policy: Effects on Crime and Violence Jens Ludwig and Philip J. Cook, editors Growth and Convergence in Metropolitan America Janet Rothenberg Pack Laws of the Landscape: How Policies Shape Cities in Europe and America Pietro S. Nivola Low-Income Homeownership: Examining the Unexamined Goal Nicolas P. Retsinas and Eric S. Belsky, editors Redefining Urban and Suburban America: Evidence from Census 2000 Bruce Katz and Robert E. Lang, editors Reflections on Regionalism Bruce J. Katz, editor Savings for the Poor: The Hidden Benefits of Electronic Banking Michael A. Stegman Still Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion Anthony Downs 00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page iii Growth Management and Affordable Housing Do They Conflict? Anthony Downs Editor brookings institution press Washington, D.C. 00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page iv Copyright © 2004    1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 www.brookings.edu All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Growth management and affordable housing : do they conflict? / Anthony Downs, editor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8157-1932-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8157-1933-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. City planning. 2. Housing. I. Downs, Anthony. II. Title. HT166.G74 2004 307.1'216—dc22 2004004191 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials: ANSI Z39.48-1992. Typeset in Adobe Garamond Composition by R. Lynn Rivenbark Macon, Georgia Printed by Edwards Brothers Lillington, North Carolina 00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page v Contents Foreword vii U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 1 Introduction 1 Anthony Downs 2 Does Growth Management Aid or Thwart the Provision of Affordable Housing? 20 Daniel Carlson and Shishir Mathur Comment by Gerrit J. Knaap 66 Comment by Samuel R. Staley 69 3 Smart Growth and Affordable Housing 82 Richard P. Voith and David L. Crawford Comment by Michael H. Schill 102 Comment by Robert W. Burchell and Sahan Mukherji 106 v 00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page vi  vi 4 The Link between Growth Management and Housing Affordability: The Academic Evidence 117 Arthur C. Nelson, Rolf Pendall, Casey J. Dawkins, and Gerrit J. Knaap Comment by William A. Fischel 158 Comment by Robert Lang 167 5 The Effects of Affordable and Multifamily Housing on Market Values of Nearby Homes 176 George C. Galster Comment by Ingrid Gould Ellen 201 Comment by Jill Khadduri 204 6 The Promise and Practice of Inclusionary Zoning 212 Douglas R. Porter Comment by Karen Destorel Brown 249 Comment by Michael Pyatok 253 7 Growth Management, Smart Growth, and Affordable Housing 264 Anthony Downs Contributors 275 Index 277 00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page vii Foreword S    governments are the gatekeepers to much of the affordable housing supply for America’s working families. Although they do not directly construct affordable housing, those governments can influ- ence the type and amount of housing that does get built, where it is built, the pace of its development, and the cost and type of infrastructure used to sup- port it. Local governments do this mainly through the many regulatory policies and practices used to influence the nature and pace of growth occurring within their boundaries. Such regulatory policies constitute local “growth management.” For the most part, growth management policies seek to enhance and preserve the quality of life of the residents of local communities and to protect the environment. Regrettably, when these policies deliberately aim to limit the amount of local growth or make it hard for lower-income households to move into neighborhoods, such restrictive, or “growth con- trol,” policies also limit or may even prevent the development of housing, fre- quently called “workforce housing,” to serve the needs of hard-working American families. The outcome has been a seeming paradox. Many communities across the country are experiencing rapid growth, yet overwhelming evidence shows that most of these same communities also suffer from growing shortages of affordable, or workforce, housing. As a result, large numbers of lower-income vii 00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page viii  viii families cannot afford to live in the communities where they work, or where they would like to live. The Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing, popularly known as the Kemp Commission, docu- mented these barriers a dozen years ago in a groundbreaking report, Not in My Backyard: Removing Barriers to Affordable Housing. Regrettably, few bar- riers have fallen since that time; in fact, the situation has probably become worse. Because of the growing urgency of this problem, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made removing regulatory barriers to affordable housing a top policy priority. And to begin to address the issues involved, the department, with the Fannie Mae Foundation and the National Association of Realtors, worked with Anthony Downs and the Brookings Institution to bring together researchers and practitioners in a symposium on the relationship between growth management and affordable housing. The symposium’s goals were (1) to examine whether conflicts exist between communities’ growth management efforts and the need to provide decent and safe affordable housing, and (2) to identify ways to reduce such conflicts. The results of those proceedings are published in this volume. As usual, Brookings and Downs have achieved, with distinction, the purpose of this symposium. The research papers are stimulating and provocative, and Downs provides an insightful synthesis of the papers and discussions in his introduction, which summarizes the key issues that the public and private sectors must address in confronting the serious regulatory barriers that exist across the country. This symposium is only one facet of the department’s broader effort to improve the availability of affordable housing. HUD also has launched a new program, entitled America’s Affordable Communities Initiative: Bringing Homes within Reach through Regulatory Reform. Through this initiative, the department seeks to address those federal, state, and local reg- ulatory barriers that prevent the approval, construction, and availability of affordable housing. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson has announced a wide-ranging strategy to achieve the goals of this initiative—an increase in the supply of low-cost homes and apartments available to more of America’s working families. The department will work in partnership with state and local govern- ments and community interests to identify and reduce barriers preventing the development of affordable housing or driving up costs. Many communi- ties have already initiated efforts, including public-private partnerships. The 00-1933-7-FM i-xii 5/13/04 12:07 PM Page ix  ix department recognizes and respects that real estate development regulation is primarily a state and local government function. Yet HUD also believes it can play a constructive role in identifying regulatory barriers and providing solu- tions and incentives for their removal. Clearly, addressing only these issues will not solve all affordable housing needs. Removing regulatory barriers must be viewed as a complement to, not a substitute for, other efforts to provide affordable housing. For many lower-income families, federal, state, and local subsidies are also fundamen- tal tools for meeting these affordable housing needs. However, addressing regulatory barriers to housing affordability is a necessary component of any overall national housing policy. The department expects that this publication will advance and illuminate the discussion on how state and local growth management policies, however well intentioned, can become regulatory barriers. Such knowledge can be the first step in overcoming them. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development