Zoning—one of the more technical aspects of local government and municipal planning—is a topic of importance in the real estate landscape. How local zoning laws affect the way in which people can build, and who is permitted to do what, deeply affects many of the most urgent challenges currently facing housing markets, from affordability to inventory.
At a panel this past November at the NAR NXT Conference in Boston, Sara Bronin, professor of law at Cornell University and founder of the National Zoning Atlas, discussed several different elements of zoning that she felt were of importance.
“I feel like there’s been a turning point not just within the REALTOR® community, but in the country as a whole, in that there’s been a greater focus on housing and the need for more housing,” says Bronin.
In addition to the needs for more affordable housing that zoning can often address, Bronin sees a dearth of attention being paid to zoning in general, which she says her Zoning Atlas project may help with. The Atlas may be a way for real estate professionals to get themselves educated on what types of buildings, structures and parking are allowed for certain areas they specialize in, and offer new knowledge for new housing starts.
“I’ve seen many people who should have an interest in zoning and land use reform not engage as much as they might in part because almost by definition, zoning and land use rules are extremely complicated and are really hard to penetrate,” she says. “That’s one of the reasons why I started the National Zoning Atlas, because I feel like it will help people—including real estate professionals—(who) know zoning is an issue but may not have as fine a grasp on the details to actually engage in conversations about policy at the local, regional and state levels.”
Bronin acknowledges the affordability challenge in the zoning context as well, by citing the panel she sat on in Boston this past November.
“REALTORS® are seeing what we’re all seeing, which is that people of all different income brackets and people from all different backgrounds are seeking more options than the market offers,” she says. “During the panel discussion today, we heard from REALTORS® from all over the country (who have clients) that were running up against other things, restrictive zoning laws that have had the effect of constraining the housing supply.”
Different districting in a zoning area can also give a community more affordable housing options. One such example is the city of Minneapolis, which saw a 45% increase in accepted permits from 2020 to 2022, thanks in large part to a reduction in parking requirements. Bronin made reference to the need for different types of building through zoning initiatives as well.
“So I think REALTORS® are probably seeing more and more (of) what we’re all seeing, which is this tremendous pent up need for not just more housing, but more diverse kinds of housing, and that’s where zoning plays a really big role,” says Bronin.
Who can spark these initiatives in their various municipalities? It’s not only up to local officials. Bronin says that advocates from small groups or even highly involved individuals can often be a spark for change, alongside macroindicators of how the housing market is doing outside of the economic side of things, such as the environment.
“At the local level, it’s often one person or a small group of people that can serve as the catalyst for zoning related discussions that lead to reform. I actually just published a book last month called ‘Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World,’ that talks about the stories of individuals who have moved zoning reforms forward in response to a wide variety of issues that they saw in their own communities. Housing certainly has motivated zoning reform, but so have local economic conditions, and so have environmental conditions.”
In terms of boots-on-the-ground, practical advice for communities looking to give themselves an edge in a difficult housing market, Bronin says that zoning can often feel inaccessible for them, even though it is an important piece of the puzzle.
“Part of what I think constrains local elected officials sometimes is the opacity of zoning, the highly technical nature of zoning, and also the lack of demonstrated interest by people in the community to change. Why aren’t members of the community calling for zoning reform and calling for their local leaders to enact zoning reform, and I think it’s because ordinary people can’t necessarily connect zoning to their quality of life and the opportunities that they have. So one of the reasons why I wrote this book was actually to help illuminate how zoning connects to our everyday lives, and how zoning has really significant consequences on virtually every aspect of our economy and our society.”
Bronin highlighted specific examples of regions in the U.S. where zoning has played a prohibitive role in having the type of buildings constructed that developers might otherwise be able to build if residents were more involved or informed on what is admittedly a dense issue.
Bronin also notes that the uses for land may differ by region, highlighting the Northeast as a place where the manufacturing businesses of yesteryear can offer different types of development that zoning can put a rubber stamp on if people start to get more engaged in the process.
“You have a large number of post-industrial cities, cities with significant industrial building stuff that frankly isn’t being used for manufacturing anymore and should be converted to other uses. Zoning can play a role in improving that use of land in those types of communities.”
Bronin concludes by again pitching her Zoning Atlas as a place where more information about zoning in the U.S. can be freely obtained, democratizing an issue that can be difficult to understand, and that may feel inaccessible for common folk and the REALTORS® that serve them.
“I want REALTORS® to be able to look up an address and tell a client whether they can do what they want to do with their property or not. And the great thing about the National Zoning Atlas is that it is free for anybody,” she says.
Some cities and communities have already taken proactive steps, understanding both how zoning can cause or solve housing problems.
“You’ve seen people in San Diego, in Tucson, in Baltimore, in Hartford—where I worked for seven years—kind of realizing how zoning was preventing them from having the communities they really wanted and how they can use zoning to move it forward,” she says.
