CityLab Daily: When a City Bans Lower-Cost Homes

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Iowa raucous: Schemes to increase density and bring housing costs down by loosening restrictions on building multi-family housing—a planning gambit known as upzoning—have been sprouting up in many U.S. cities. In the past few months, ambitious upzoning laws have been approved in Minneapolis, Austin, and Seattle. Given that trend, it might look like downzoning (changing codes to encourage single-family homes and sprawlier development) is on its way out. If that’s true, Des Moines never got the memo.

The Iowa capital’s proposed zoning plan would do the opposite of upzoning. The rules approved last night by the city’s zoning commission set a high bar for building appearance and minimum requirements for construction. The plan includes strict preservationist standards—not for historic homes, but for new construction. New Des Moines homes are required to have garages, basements, and generous yards; lower-cost building materials like vinyl siding are discouraged. The city says the new zoning rules will save money by simplifying permitting, but local home builders warn that the raft of restrictions will make buying a new home harder for residents. “Anybody making under $90,000 annual income will not be able to afford these homes,” one tells CityLab’s Kriston Capps. Read the story: A Different Kind of Downzoning: Banning Lower-Cost Homes