The state of the economy and the cost of living are top of mind for most American voters this year. Chief among these issues is the cost of housing. As home prices and rent have soared over the last several years, more Americans than ever are homeless or spending unsustainable amounts on shelter.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have rolled out a slew of policies and new funding designed to boost the supply of homes and subsidize affordable housing.
Pro-housing advocates argue the administration hasn’t done nearly enough. But some are encouraged by Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate. Walz has overseen a significant push for new housing, including reducing regulatory barriers to construction, and supported progressive efforts to support low-income tenants and homebuyers.
A YIMBY governor
As Minnesota’s governor, Walz has put serious money behind housing initiatives. In May 2023, he signed a $1 billion housing omnibus law, which included funding for programs ranging from downpayment assistance to workforce housing. In December 2023, he provided an additional $350 million for affordable housing initiatives.
Walz also signed legislation expanding tenants’ rights, including requiring landlords to give tenants two weeks’ notice of an eviction filing and expunging evictions from Minnesotans’ records after three years at most.
Walz has also supported efforts to cut red tape around both housing and infrastructure construction. Earlier this year, he signed into law reforms to speed up the permitting processes for clean energy projects.
“We also have permitting that takes too long and prohibits, or makes more expensive, doing renewable energy projects,” Walz told New York Times columnist Ezra Klein recently. “That same thing applies on housing, that we put up barriers to make it more affordable.”
National political leaders and housing advocates have taken notice. In June, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to Minnesota to celebrate the city’s housing reforms and unveil new federal programs to boost housing production and affordability. “Programs in Minneapolis serve as an example of federal, state, and local efforts working in concert to increase housing supply and lower its cost,” Yellen said in a message on X.
A slew of housing advocates and self-described YIMBYs, or supporters of the pro-development “Yes In My Backyard” approach, have hailed Walz’s selection this week.
“The building code modernization wing of the Democratic party is celebrating today,” Jenny Schuetz, a housing policy expert at the Brookings Institute, wrote on X, sharing a news article about Walz’s action on building code reform in Minnesota. “Can a push to legalize single-stair buildings nationwide be far behind?”
“First YIMBY VP nom?” Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, asked in a post on X.
A city leading the country on housing policy
Minnesota’s biggest city — Minneapolis — has long been a national leader on pro-housing policy.
In 2009, the city began reforming its land-use laws — including getting rid of parking requirements and shrinking home lot sizes — to boost the supply of housing.
In 2018, Minneapolis became the first in the country to end single-family zoning citywide — part of a comprehensive city plan designed to reduce inequities, including racial segregation. The policy — passed by the city council in a 12-1 vote — allows duplexes and triplexes on all lots that used to be reserved only for single-family houses, paving the way for smaller and more affordable homes. It also opened up multifamily housing development on commercial corridors and near mass transit.
A lawsuit in 2022 paused the policy’s implementation until the Minnesota state legislature passed a law — signed by Walz — in May allowing the plan to go forward.
Over the last decade, Minneapolis has constructed a ton of new and dense housing, which has significantly improved affordability. Between 2017 and 2022, the city grew its housing stock by 12%, while rents rose just 1% — far lower than the 31% in rent growth across the US during the same period. The city’s housing policies have been credited with dramatically slowing rent growth and thereby keeping inflation down. Last year, the Twin Cities became the first major metro area to keep inflation below the Fed’s target of 2%.
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