The Invisible Reason for High Housing Prices: Restrictive Land-Use Regulations

It is extremely difficult to build housing in Rhode Island. It’s also expensive to buy homes, with prices having increased by 34% since the summer of 2020. Why? Adam A. Millsap makes the case in Forbes that because Rhode Island zoning laws are overly restrictive, developers are unable to meet the current and past needs of housing. Millsap writes:

“Places with fewer land-use regulations and more flexible zoning have lower housing prices and slower rent growth. Land-use regulations such as density restrictions, height restrictions, minimum lot sizes, parking requirements, and complicated set-back rules prevent developers from building more housing, especially more affordable housing.”

In this episode of Upzoned, join host Abby Kinney as she talks with guest Nolan Gray, author of Arbitrary Lines, about his perspective on zoning laws and Rhode Island’s efforts to address their housing crisis.

• “Zoning Reforms, Not Public Housing, Will Fix Rhode Island’s Housing Problem,” by Adam A. Millsap, Forbes (May 2023).

• Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It by Nolan Gray.

• Abby Kinney (Twitter).

• Nolan Gray (Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.