The Link between Growth Management and Housing Affordability: the Academic Evidence

* Copies of these and other Urban Center publications are available on the web site, www.brookings.edu/urban, or by calling the Urban Center at (202) 797-6139. Foundation for their support of our work on metropolitan trends. The Center's Metropolitan Initiative aims to better understand the mix of market, demographic and policy trends that contribute to the growth and development patterns we see in metropolitan areas nationwide and to identify where possible, options for reform. The Brookings Urban Center would like to recognize a number of people who contributed to the development of the paper on growth management and housing affordability. First, we would like to thank Don Chen and Elizabeth Humphrey at Smart Growth America for their strategic advice. In addition, the following people generously donated their time and expertise to participate in a convening on this subject, where the draft paper was presented. The views expressed in this discussion paper are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the trustees, officers, or staff members of The Brookings Institution. Rising concerns about traffic congestion, loss of farmland, urban disinvestment, and the costs of public infrastructure have led an increasing number of state and local governments to adopt new policies to better manage metropolitan growth. Such programs often involve a package of tools such as zoning, comprehensive plans, subdivision regulations, development fees and exactions, and infrastructure investments and are sometimes described as growth controls, growth management, sustainable development, or smart growth. Despite these efforts' increasing popularity, some observers are concerned that such efforts adversely affect land and housing markets and lead to problems of housing affordability. We must remember that many of the ills resulting from today's sprawling development patterns are themselves caused in part by traditional land use planning and zoning practices (sometimes deliberately), such as exclusionary housing and other local land use practices. Growth controls, as distinguished from growth management, bear a striking resemblance to these traditional practices, because they are adopted with only local benefits in mind and without concern for the possible costs that other communities might bear as a consequence. Growth management, by contrast, seeks to preserve public goods, improve social equity and minimize adverse impacts of development while still accommodating new housing and economic growth. The common assumption is that by limiting the supply of developable land, all growth management policies reduce the supply of housing. Basic economic theory suggests that if housing …