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Two years of pandemic disruptions have put a spotlight on shortcomings in the U.S. housing market. Some of these shortcomings have their origins in federal and local policy decisions made decades ago. But there are also positive examples of cities making zoning decisions that work to create affordable housing. On Feb. 10, 2022, SciLine interviewed Emily Hamilton, an economist and senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, about housing policy and how it affects who can afford to live in American cities.
Below are some highlights from the discussion. Please note that answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
How have pandemic-linked economic shifts affected housing markets?
Emily Hamilton: During the early stages of the pandemic, there was a big slowdown in localities issuing building permits and homebuilders starting housing construction, due to early efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. It’s taken a long time to work out of that, as well as ongoing supply constraints.
As a result of this big reduction in new houses, house prices in many parts of the country have increased drastically since the start of the pandemic.
There have also been increasing challenges of people not being able to afford housing that they were already in prior to the pandemic, due to job losses and income insecurity.
Communities are using a variety of strategies to make renting or owning a home more affordable. When it comes to what the research shows, what actually works?
Emily Hamilton: Successful strategies for improving housing affordability are policy reforms that make it feasible for homebuilders and developers to provide more housing, especially at the low-cost end of the market.
For example, Houston is known for expanding outward. It should also be known for some of the reforms that it’s done to make more housing within neighborhoods that are closest to some of its job centers possible.
Read full story at The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/affordable-housing-in-pandemic-times-what-works-and-what-doesnt-177699
Image courtesy: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/housing-development-royalty-free-image/529307522?adppopup=true