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Incremental upzoning is what will get us there. This. It's been relatively successful (in terms of units built) in Northern VA. All along the Metro rail thro

Incremental upzoning is what will get us there. This. It's been relatively successful (in terms of units built) in Northern VA. All along the Metro rail through Arlington and Fairfax Counties, we've changed zoning to allow dense multi-use development. Courthouse, Clarendon, and Ballston in Arlington were heavily redeveloped in the 90s and 00s. And Reston and Herndon's Transit Oriented Development Zones have been underway for 5-10 years and will continue for another decade. Definitely not a cure-all, but a step in the right direction. At least there's office, retail, dining, and residential all on the same plot, which beats the previous massive parking lots and mid-rise office space.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
With better zoning, has Northern VA become more affordable? Or has it just become more popular?
- alistairSH 5y ago
  Impossible to say - too complex to figure that out. You are correct that demand has grown faster than supply, so in aggregate, housing prices have continued to rise. But, we have mixed-use where single-use/non-residential existed previously, so relatively speaking, we're better off (in terms of total housing units). And in terms of economic activity, those zones all appear to be successful. EDIT - Also worth nothing the zoning changes are pretty limited - within a few city blocks of the metro stations. They make a good PoC for changes, but expanding them beyond their current boundaries will run into the same NIMBY issues we see across the large cities in CA.
- danans 5y ago
  The DC area has a better affordability ratio than most major US metro areas: https://infogram.com/q2-2021-affordability-table-1ho16vogzgowx4n?live https://infogram.com/q2-2021-affordability-table-1ho16vogzgo... That's pretty remarkable given its stature as a center of world power and influence. That data doesn't answer the question about trajectory, though, which is what you asked. I can't find a graph that plots this stuff over time by metro, but it would be interesting to see no doubt.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

With better zoning, has Northern VA become more affordable? Or has it just become more popular?

alistairSH 5y ago
Impossible to say - too complex to figure that out. You are correct that demand has grown faster than supply, so in aggregate, housing prices have continued to rise. But, we have mixed-use where single-use/non-residential existed previously, so relatively speaking, we're better off (in terms of total housing units). And in terms of economic activity, those zones all appear to be successful. EDIT - Also worth nothing the zoning changes are pretty limited - within a few city blocks of the metro stations. They make a good PoC for changes, but expanding them beyond their current boundaries will run into the same NIMBY issues we see across the large cities in CA.
danans 5y ago
The DC area has a better affordability ratio than most major US metro areas: https://infogram.com/q2-2021-affordability-table-1ho16vogzgowx4n?live https://infogram.com/q2-2021-affordability-table-1ho16vogzgo... That's pretty remarkable given its stature as a center of world power and influence. That data doesn't answer the question about trajectory, though, which is what you asked. I can't find a graph that plots this stuff over time by metro, but it would be interesting to see no doubt.