4 ms·

This doesn't appear to fix the zoning issues unfortunately.

xhkkffbf 2y ago
Money will probably go to the same folks who built all of those affordable EV chargers or rural Internet connection. If you don't actually build anything, the zoning doesn't matter. Problem solved.
llamaimperative 2y ago
Zoning issues are entirely local/state-controlled. Not sure what legal mechanisms the federal government could even arguably use to assert authority – keen to hear if anyone has ideas though.
- ravetcofx 2y ago
  Withhold state funding until everywhere is blanket upzoned. Just like they did with raising the drinking age.
- stonogo 2y ago
  Roads are also state-controlled, but uniformity of the interstate system is via the federal government funding projects which accord with federal guidelines and not funding projects which don't. HUD could just as easily gate funding predicated on states passing zoning regulations which encourage housing density.
- jpeloquin 2y ago
  The usual approach is to provide grants for something else that the municipality wants/needs, but make them conditional on the municipality acting in the desired manner.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- tacticalturtle 2y ago
  They could build housing on federal land, or lease the land to housing developers under favorable terms. I don’t believe the federal government can be bound to local zoning laws. Now that wouldn’t help you in a city like Boston or New York, but there are plenty of states where the federal government owns the majority of the land. https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_land_ownership_by_state https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_land_ownership_by_state
  - beaglesss 2y ago
    Seems like there's a huge possibility here for Indian reservations to lease land on generous terms, like allowing manufactured housing. Whenever I pass reservations near major cities they are chalk full of stuff the city would never approve, that is actually affordable to build.
    - tacticalturtle 2y ago
      That’s true, they also can circumvent restrictions. But give the historical relationship between the government and the Native American organizations, I can’t imagine most tribes would politically get behind using their limited reservation land to house people from outside the tribe.
      - beaglesss 2y ago
        That's a good point. Still if the agreement is to lease to people oppressed by the US government they may agree to it. IIRC racism etc in housing is not illegal on an Indian Reservation so they might agree to certain classes of people they commiserate with if enough cash is in it for them.
- beaglesss 2y ago
  Zoning is interstate commerce since in aggregate it has an effect on interstate commerce (Wickard v Filburn). Feds could ban or reform zoning just as they can ban me from growing and smoking a marijuana plant that never leaves my property nor enters commerce.
  - AnimalMuppet 2y ago
    Yuck. But it might work. I'd prefer something that is somewhat less of a perversion of the Constitution, though. Find some other grounds on which zoning is unconstitutional. (The advantage of that is that governments aren't allowed to do what's unconstitutional, whether or not the federal government has the right to overrule local law. Like, zoning might be considered a "taking". The government has taken from me the right to build a skyscraper on this piece of land, so they have to make "just compensation" - they have to pay me the difference between what the land is worth now and what it would have been worth if I could build the skyscraper on it. Making zoning that expensive could make it impossible for local governments to do it.
    - beaglesss 2y ago
      The government is far more likely to go along with a ruling expanding central power than reducing overall power IMO.
- harambae 2y ago
  The federal government can coerce whatever they want out of states by withholding funding. Exhibit 1, the drinking age which is now 21 everywhere... https://www.businessinsider.com/treat-building-housing-like-raising-the-drinking-age-a-federal-mandate-2024-9 https://www.businessinsider.com/treat-building-housing-like-... Nobody at the federal level actually wants to fix this housing "problem" that's real issue.

Money will probably go to the same folks who built all of those affordable EV chargers or rural Internet connection. If you don't actually build anything, the zoning doesn't matter. Problem solved.

llamaimperative 2y ago

Zoning issues are entirely local/state-controlled. Not sure what legal mechanisms the federal government could even arguably use to assert authority – keen to hear if anyone has ideas though.

ravetcofx 2y ago
Withhold state funding until everywhere is blanket upzoned. Just like they did with raising the drinking age.
stonogo 2y ago
Roads are also state-controlled, but uniformity of the interstate system is via the federal government funding projects which accord with federal guidelines and not funding projects which don't. HUD could just as easily gate funding predicated on states passing zoning regulations which encourage housing density.
jpeloquin 2y ago
The usual approach is to provide grants for something else that the municipality wants/needs, but make them conditional on the municipality acting in the desired manner.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
tacticalturtle 2y ago
They could build housing on federal land, or lease the land to housing developers under favorable terms. I don’t believe the federal government can be bound to local zoning laws. Now that wouldn’t help you in a city like Boston or New York, but there are plenty of states where the federal government owns the majority of the land. https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_land_ownership_by_state https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_land_ownership_by_state
- beaglesss 2y ago
  Seems like there's a huge possibility here for Indian reservations to lease land on generous terms, like allowing manufactured housing. Whenever I pass reservations near major cities they are chalk full of stuff the city would never approve, that is actually affordable to build.
  - tacticalturtle 2y ago
    That’s true, they also can circumvent restrictions. But give the historical relationship between the government and the Native American organizations, I can’t imagine most tribes would politically get behind using their limited reservation land to house people from outside the tribe.
    - beaglesss 2y ago
      That's a good point. Still if the agreement is to lease to people oppressed by the US government they may agree to it. IIRC racism etc in housing is not illegal on an Indian Reservation so they might agree to certain classes of people they commiserate with if enough cash is in it for them.
beaglesss 2y ago
Zoning is interstate commerce since in aggregate it has an effect on interstate commerce (Wickard v Filburn). Feds could ban or reform zoning just as they can ban me from growing and smoking a marijuana plant that never leaves my property nor enters commerce.
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  Yuck. But it might work. I'd prefer something that is somewhat less of a perversion of the Constitution, though. Find some other grounds on which zoning is unconstitutional. (The advantage of that is that governments aren't allowed to do what's unconstitutional, whether or not the federal government has the right to overrule local law. Like, zoning might be considered a "taking". The government has taken from me the right to build a skyscraper on this piece of land, so they have to make "just compensation" - they have to pay me the difference between what the land is worth now and what it would have been worth if I could build the skyscraper on it. Making zoning that expensive could make it impossible for local governments to do it.
  - beaglesss 2y ago
    The government is far more likely to go along with a ruling expanding central power than reducing overall power IMO.
harambae 2y ago
The federal government can coerce whatever they want out of states by withholding funding. Exhibit 1, the drinking age which is now 21 everywhere... https://www.businessinsider.com/treat-building-housing-like-raising-the-drinking-age-a-federal-mandate-2024-9 https://www.businessinsider.com/treat-building-housing-like-... Nobody at the federal level actually wants to fix this housing "problem" that's real issue.