Focus on Multifamily: The Understudied Frontier

The multifamily housing sector remains underexplored, presenting a significant opportunity to deepen understanding in this area, particularly through comparative studies with single-family dwellings. Recent attention to building codes coincides with zoning reforms that legalize diverse building types, prompting essential considerations about financial feasibility and the implications of these codes on construction. For example, differences between the International Residential Code and the International Building Code can lead to construction cost disparities of 15 to 20% higher for multifamily projects, making them less viable in some urban contexts. While policies like California's SB 9 and Minneapolis's triplex zoning aim to increase unit density on a parcel, they sometimes inadvertently result in higher costs, complicating development. This underscores the misconception that changing zoning laws alone will surge development; the entire framework of overlapping regulations must be navigated to enable practical construction solutions. Understanding multifamily's unique challenges is crucial as communities attempt to adapt to new housing demands.