Comments on Housing from RI

I got a great note from someone at the Blackstone Valley Housing Development Corporation in Woonsocket, RI:

Hooray on your latest post and, hopefully, soon-to-be-published letter to the globe. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1924 ruling in “Euclid v. Amber Reality” zoning has been used to inhibit, prohibit, or simply malign multi-family housing- affordable or otherwise- whatever the shape or density. Old habits die hard.
I write to you from Rhode Island where our affordable housing crisis is exacerbated by Metro Boston’s as more and more Massachusetts workers flee south to find a house they can afford (on Boston-area salaries) and, in the process, drive Northern RI’s housing prices sky-high.

People need to realize that density works, it’s not a new or inherently ugly concept (Beacon Hill? Old Town Alexandria?), and with the right application of impact fees, dense development needn’t unduly burden the community in question.

Keep up the fight in Boston. Rhode Islanders are depending upon it!

He also attached a letter he’s sent to various people with general suggestions for improving zoning in the Providence metro area, and I think they can be useful in general. See below…

Zoning for Affordability and Rural Preservation

The numbers are impressive. During the past 6 years the median selling price of a single-family Lincoln (RI) home rose nearly 83%- from $162,000 in 1998 to $296,700 in 2003. To current Lincoln homeowners these numbers are welcomed news, an affirmation that buying their home was a good investment and confirmation that their house is indeed a rapidly appreciating asset. But to prospective homebuyers these numbers are discouraging.

Were the statistics cited above an aberration they’d not be cause for alarm. Young families just stating out and looking for their piece of the American Dream in Lincoln could simply settle elsewhere, bide their time, and eventually trade-up. But there’s nothing unique about Lincoln’s hot market. Cumberland’s housing prices have increased 85% since 1998. Smithfield? 93%. Even Woonsocket and Pawtucket saw single-family housing prices increase by 82% and 109% respectively over the same period. So where exactly are young families supposed to locate? For would-be first time homebuyers the Rhode Island housing market of 2004 has turned the old JFK adage on its head: today a rising tide sinks all boats.

Why has Rhode Island’s statewide median selling price increased 82% since 1998 when the national figure is only 32.3%? A recently released report commissioned by FleetBoston and the RI Public Expenditure Council attributed this increase to the low number of building permits issued relative to in-migration. Another factor cited is that land yield rates- i.e. the number of units that can be constructed on a piece of land given zoning ordinances and other regulations- have decreased by nearly 15% over the past 10 years. The combined results being that Rhode Island’s population has grown 4 times faster than housing stock since 1998.

In the face of heavy housing demand is there anything that Lincoln can do to ease this crisis? We should certainly try. We owe it to our children who might one day want to settle in Lincoln themselves. Actions that Lincoln Town Council could take to promote the development of affordable housing are the revamping of zoning laws to allow for smaller lot sizes and the construction of clustered housing developments. Some town residents might object to these proposals based on concerns that down-zoning would result in a quickened loss of Lincoln’s rural character, degraded greenspace, and increased educational costs. I believe these fears are misguided.

Much pride is taken in Lincoln’s rural character, and it’s tempting to regard development curbs in the form of large-lot zoning as a way of preserving this character. But does large-lot zoning actually achieve this goal? Is Saylesville Highlands (my neighborhood), with its ¼ acre lots, pastoral in nature? Clearly not. But neither is the Butterfly Way development off Breakneck Hill Road (1 acre minimum lot zoning). Rather than slowing down the loss of pastoral scenes, large-lot zoning actually spreads this loss over a larger area. An easy way to preserve rural character is by promoting clustered development- i.e. subdivisions where housing is built in higher than allowed densities on one section of a parcel in return for dedicating the remaining parcel as permanently undeveloped. If we’re going to build 100 new houses why not do it on 25 acres and have the remaining 75 left untouched?

Similarly, large-lot zoning doesn’t protect greenspace. Those whose instincts tell them otherwise need only look at the newly built Saddle Lane subdivision off Twin River Road to see evidence to the contrary. Open space? Sure. Treeless, barren open space. But this is not the same thing as greenspace in the sense of useable recreational land. Lincoln has such land in places like the Handy Pond Preserve, Chase Farm, and Gateway Park. Efforts to expand greenspace should take the form of adding acreage to these areas- not regulations obliging large minimum lots. Some prefer to own homes with large yards, but today’s zoning requires that new houses come standard with these yards. This needlessly drives unit prices up.

The loudest objections to down-zoning are related to educational expenses. Conventional wisdom says smaller lots and cheaper houses lead to more young families and more children in our schools. Therefore, to save expenditures on education, the town should ensure that new housing is constructed on large lots. These houses will still have kids to educate, but there will be fewer houses and fewer kids.

But there’s another choice that would allow Lincoln to both welcome families and remain fiscally sound- the imposition of impact fees. Impact fees are charges levied on new development in order to generate revenue for improvements necessitated by said development. Impact fees are a way for newcomers to “ante-up” so that their arrival doesn’t unduly burden those of us already here. Using this approach, the town levies a per-bedroom fee on each new home built and revenues from that fee are dedicated for use in school expansion. Yes, fees of this type will add to the price of a new home- but not nearly as much as having to buy an acre lot!

The Low & Moderate Income Housing Act (which allows developers to ignore local zoning regulations in towns with less than 10% affordable housing) demonstrates how zoning laws deemed to be needlessly constraining housing supply are likely to be dealt with in the future. My suggestions to down-zone now, to embrace clustered zoning, and impose impact fees on new development are proactive ways to expand housing supply, enhance affordability, and preserve Lincoln’s rural character on our own terms. Please join me in urging the Town Council to take this action now.

(name withheld, unless I hear otherwise)
Blackstone Valley Housing Development Corporation