Introducing "Density Zones": A New Policy Idea for Federal Intervention in Local Housing Policy

On this episode of Infill, YIMBY Law's Executive Director Sonja Trauss speaks with Dr. Adam Ozimek, Chief Economist for the Economic Innovation Group about their idea to get the federal government more involved in housing policy.

Pro-housing advocates understand that we need to incentivize local governments to remove barriers to building new homes. The Economic Innovation Group has come up with a new idea called "Density Zones" to empower local governments to facilitate more building by incentivizing them with rewards from the federal government proportional to the number of new homes built. So, how would this work?

The first step would be for the federal government to develop standardized zoning and building codes drawn from best practices nationwide. Then, municipalities would have the ability to adopt this code for specific areas within their jurisdiction. These standardized best practices would help streamline building by providing a set of rules that developers can use to operate with. Finally, areas that meet the program's targets would be rewarded with "Density Dividends," which could be used to do things like building infrastructure or new schools to accommodate the new homes.

Tune in to learn more about the ideas that the Economic Innovation Group is working on, and how they think "Density Zones" could make it easier for state and local governments to their tackle housing shortages.

Learn more about Density Zones: https://agglomerations.substack.com/p/how-the-next-president-can-solve

Learn more about the Economic Innovation Group: https://eig.org/

Learn more about YIMBY Action: https://yimbyaction.org/

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