Government
The Flip Side of NIMBY Zoning
Yes, land-use restrictions make cities unaffordable. But they also keep inequality between regions from becoming even worse.
It’s become perhaps the most widely accepted truism in urban development and economic policy circles: NIMBY zoning and overly restrictive land-use policies and building codes keep housing prices high, making superstar cities like New York and San Francisco less affordable. Plus, they take a huge bite out of the U.S. economy as a whole.
Remedying this has won wide support from urban economists and city builders on both sides of the political aisle. In the February 2016 Economic Report of the President and in a follow-up report that advocated for a new housing policy toolkit, the Obama administration indicted unduly strict land-use rules as leading to damaging rents and holding back American innovation and economic progress.