More than 22 million households now spend over a third of their income on rent, and housing prices are higher than ever. In a survey by real estate company Redfin, the most important issue Gen Z voters cited was not the economy, immigration, or reproductive rights. It was affordable housing.
None of this is surprising to state and local politicians, who are racing to address a housing shortage estimated at 4.5 million units. For the first time in its 11-year history, the National League of Cities’ State of the Cities report found that housing was one of the top three topics in mayoral addresses this year. And state legislatures in Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York passed major housing bills that, among other things, updated zoning regulations and changed housing planning processes.
A recently expanded online tool now makes it easier to understand how communities control land use through zoning.
By “digitizing, demystifying and democratizing” zoning regulations, the National Zoning Atlas aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of a state’s zoning landscape, said Sara Bronin, the project’s director. Route Fifty last year.
Da Bronin spoke with Route FiftyThe project has expanded rapidly. Last week, the project announced the release of the Arizona Zoning Atlas. About 36 states have been mapped, some completely and others only in specific metropolitan areas or jurisdictions. Earlier this year, the National Zoning Atlas released a public map showing all the areas that have published data. Nevada and New Mexico are on track for completion, as are major metropolitan areas in Colorado, New York and North Carolina, according to Diana Drogaris, outreach coordinator for the National Zoning Atlas.
“All published geographic areas cover almost 100 million people,” Drogaris said in an interview with Route Fifty.
Drogaris says that in her experience, the cards that came out in 2022 are most commonly used for messaging. “People like to compare themselves,” she says.
In fact, the interactive online maps allow comparison of zoning plans in cities and towns across a state. The maps show where single-family homes, multi-family apartments and accessory dwelling units can be located and where lot sizes, parking requirements and height limits affect development.
In Vermont, the state Department of Housing and Community Development used the map in a series of lectures earlier this year to highlight the need to reduce lot size requirements. Vermont has the largest lot sizes in the U.S., averaging 1.8 acres. State officials used the Vermont Zoning Atlas to show citizens how most Vermont towns disappear from the map when a user selects areas that allow single-family homes on lots smaller than a quarter acre. The requirement to build on large lots, Amy Tomasso, a project manager at the department, told the audience, leads to sprawl and car dependency and creates neighborhoods that are less welcoming to a diverse population.
One of the goals of the initiative is to highlight the role of zoning regulations in social problems.
“We’ve used zoning to limit opportunity, slow economic growth and destroy our environment,” Bronin said last year. “I think once people realize that’s the consequence of zoning the way we have it, they’ll be much more willing to change it. In fact, they’ll feel the urge to change it.”
Another goal is to help policymakers address the nationwide housing crisis.
In Montana, the statewide zoning atlas that went into effect last year has helped shape a number of housing laws. Researchers from the Montana Zoning Atlas worked with a statewide housing task force to help lawmakers draft legislation to address the state’s housing shortage. The new laws loosen regulations on duplexes and accessory dwelling units, create new requirements for local governments to adjust their policies to meet projected demand, and limit parking requirements.
The insights from mapping Arizona could help with the state’s housing legislation, where Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill earlier this year that would have limited cities’ regulation of home designs and lot sizes for single-family homes.
In mapping Arizona’s 106 jurisdictions, geospatial specialists found that 94% of the state’s residential zoned land allows single-family homes and only 20% allows multifamily housing. In addition, 95% of residential zoned land has minimum parking requirements and 88% of single-family zoned land has a minimum lot size of 1 acre or more. Housing experts say these types of requirements limit the number of homes that can be built on a lot and contribute to suburban sprawl.
Drogaris says that in addition to the interactive maps, the National Zoning Atlas now publishes snapshots that summarize the zoning of large metropolitan areas.
Drogaris noted that the tool is still in its early stages and that the initiative is collaborating with other organizations on several projects, such as the Urban Institute working on sea level rise and the Regional Plan Association trying to quantify a “housing shortage due to climate change.”
“We are in the early stages of data activation,” she said. “We are all starting from scratch and working toward smarter, more comprehensive planning.”
