Idea for fixing the housing shortage

[jklo]

In places like MA, where most voters are economically quite comfortable, our expectations of quality are high, and we impose that quality constraint on all housing

Yea, about that... not only is the housing expensive here it's also garbo.

The other parts of the country you might consider expensive, the housing stock is def of better quality.

 

[Johnnyrocket891]

You can’t fix housing while ignoring voters. When a Legislature blocks an audit the public approved, it’s not governing - it’s spending other people’s money without accountability.

 

[sean99090900]

A quick search didn't bring up anything but I was reading about this package of Montana housing reforms from a couple years ago that finally cleared state supreme court review in March

Montana Supreme Court upholds housing reform laws

In a press release Tuesday evening, Gov. Greg Gianforte called the court’s finding “a landmark victory.”

montanafreepress.org

The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a slate of pro-construction housing laws that were proposed by a housing task force established by Gov. Greg Gianforte and enacted by the Legislature in 2023.

• Senate Bill 382 created the Montana Land Use Planning Act, which requires municipalities of 5,000 residents or more in the state’s urban counties to plan for the housing they need to accommodate population growth. It also focuses resident input on high-level planning discussions, making it harder for “not in my backyard”-style opposition to derail projects.
• Senate Bill 245, which forces cities of 5,000 residents or more to allow apartment-style housing in most areas set aside as commercial zones.
• Senate Bill 323, which requires cities with 5,000 residents or more to allow duplex housing on any home lot.
• Senate Bill 528, which requires cities to adopt regulations allowing more construction of accessory dwelling units, or secondary housing structures that share parcels with larger homes.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-28/montana-s-yimby-revolt-aims-to-head-off-a-housing-crisis

SB 382 would transform the development process, limiting public hearings on housing projects by front-loading them to the general planning stages, when municipalities adopt their overall land-use plans. After that, approvals in Montana cities would proceed by right — effectively shutting out NIMBY homeowners who often thwart growth. The bill would also require each local government to establish a planning commission, set a projection for population growth and ensure their zoning maps facilitate that growth, similar to the “housing element” enforcement push currently roiling California politics. Montana’s bill would further establish a schedule of “housing strategies” — about 15 provisions, including eliminating setback requirements, minimum lot sizes and minimum parking requirements — and require local governments to adopt five of them.

I also just find it funny that a lot of this is motivated by a deep fear of becoming California

Montana’s ‘Miracle’ Housing Reforms Move Forward

One of the nation’s most ambitious housing deregulation efforts just survived its biggest legal challenge. Other states should take note.

cityjournal.substack.com

“Everybody is scared to death that we’re going to be California.”

The state’s housing supply did not keep pace. As a result, Montana has experienced some of the highest housing-price increases in the country. Its biggest cities—many of them blue enclaves amid a sea of red rural counties—had adopted California-style zoning that sharply restricted housing density. In Missoula, for example, three-quarters of residential land was zoned exclusively for single-family homes—nearly identical to Los Angeles.

“If our cities are zoned like L.A., they will grow like L.A.,” Kendall Cotton of the Helena-based Frontier Institute warned lawmakers in 2023. “If we want to preserve Montana and have it not become like California, we have got to address this California-style zoning in our cities.”

 

[jklo]

I'm not exactly sure how encouraging dense housing would prevent it from becoming California.

It is true that the NC is pricey - the SFH seem to be mainly centered in the 500s and there aren't that much in the way of NC apartments. But there's a few.

 

[BeansTheCat]

I'm not exactly sure how encouraging dense housing would prevent it from becoming California.

They don't mean California in the sense of how the development looks; it's California in the sense that no one can afford to live there. And this definitely seems like a step in the right direction

 

[jklo]

I thought he was talking about sprawl actually.

What caught my eye was Spokane WA in how much is being built there. Even kinda spills into Idaho.

 

[TheRatmeister]

They don't mean California in the sense of how the development looks; it's California in the sense that no one can afford to live there. And this definitely seems like a step in the right direction

I mean yes about it not being affordable but I think it's more about sprawl like @jklo is saying. 'Preserving Montana' means keeping "Big Sky Country" natural and open, not full of urban sprawl.

 

[ball_square]

I mean yes about it not being affordable but I think it's more about sprawl like @jklo is saying. 'Preserving Montana' means keeping "Big Sky Country" natural and open, not full of urban sprawl.

It's really enouraging to see cross-partisan embracement of YIMBYism as environmentalism. Really hope it spreads, (even if it means dunking on California in the process).