I think the big lesson we could learn from California is that, although it’s not perfect, the state is taking steps to limit local control. Local governments tend to be exclusionary and resistant towards development, which in California has been the driving force behind the housing crisis. California’s population is still growing.. Housing prices are up because there’s significant demand and they’re not building nearly enough housing throughout the state. But in California, you've also got more bold politicians taking steps to preempt local zoning.
I see no reason why Boston wouldn’t eventually go the way of California in terms of our housing situation. We’re not too far behind right now—we’ve got similar increases in job growth and in migration of individuals, and we’re not building enough housing. I understand that building more is not a solution for the lowest-income individuals who need subsidies, but subsidies alone are not sufficient. If the regulations make it very expensive to build, we have to pour on even more subsidies to make it affordable.
Boston is an outlier in terms of cities, in that our zoning is incredibly restrictive. So every time someone wants to build something, they have to get a variance from the zoning laws, which is basically an exception to zoning rules. To give you a sense of how extreme zoning is in Boston, we do about 900 variances a year. New York City, which is significantly larger, does about 70. San Diego granted three in one recent year. So we do everything through the variance process.
What Boston really needs to do is plan comprehensively. Think about that planning in light of the expected population growth of the city. Plan that out with community input, then change the zoning to allow this growth to happen without variances.
Images from top: Getty Images, Michael J. Clarke
Are there any lessons we can learn from the affordable housing crisis in Silicon Valley? Apartments in Palo Alto, for example, average around $3,700 a month, and large majorities of middle-class people are unable to afford to buy homes. What can be done to prevent Greater Boston from moving in that direction?
HOUSING
John Infranca is a professor at Suffolk Law specializing in land use regulation, affordable housing policy, property theory, and law and religion. Prior to joining the faculty at Suffolk, Infranca worked as a legal fellow at the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.
Interview by Suzi Morales
Professor John Infranca
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