cover image: Local Policies for Affordability and Economic Opportunity - 21 March 2023 City Hall Insights

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Local Policies for Affordability and Economic Opportunity - 21 March 2023 City Hall Insights

21 Mar 2023

Figure 1 Local Housing and Transportation Costs ( ) Considering both housing and transportation costs, core communities tend to be most affordable overall, and so provide the greatest economic opportunity for low- and moderate- income households. [...] Supply skeptics only consider new housing prices but as described previously, most moderate- and lower-income families live in older homes, and increasing the supply of new homes tends to increase the supply and drive down the prices of existing homes. [...] Several academic studies have critiqued their claims, including Manville, Lens and Monkkonen’s “Zoning and Affordability: A Reply to Storper and Rodríguez-Pose”, Brasuell’s, “An Academic Debate with Very Real Consequences: Land Use Regulations and the Cost of Housing,” and my column, The Housing Supply Debate: Evaluating the Evidence. [...] For example, Victoria, the CRD and the province all have targets to reduce automobile travel and encourage walking, bicycling and public transit travel in order to increase affordability, community livability and climate protection goals; affordable infill development and efficient parking management help achieve those targets, while abundant and free public parking contradict them. [...] Many moderate-income households spend more than is affordable on housing and transportation and need more housing in the $1,000 to $3,000 price range.

Authors

Todd Litman

Pages
12
Published in
Canada