Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Matt Horn, Director of Local Government Services for MRB Group, and a severe hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic. (Look it up, I double dog dare you — unless you are atychiphobic.) Check out Matt’s concise verbiage on LinkedIn, and wherever short stories are sold.
- What I’m reading: “Unlocking the Potential of Post-Industrial Cities” by Matthew Kahn. Looking for seeds to plant in my hometown and beyond.
- What I’m listening to: Covers by The Moon Loungers. Just got my blood pressure diagnosis and looking for something soothing.
- What I’m watching: “Heroin(e)” on Netflix. Working to understand what folks are doing to combat one of our most serious crises.
Our team works around the country, with every type of community you can imagine, and one thing seems to persist as a challenge to growth — housing. Call it what you will — affordable housing, attainable housing, workforce housing, missing middle. You name it, we need it.
One community we work in recently convened a crew of housing investors and asked them to help us understand why we are so far behind in housing supply. It was a wide-ranging discussion, with one prevailing answer: We have met the enemy, and it is us.
Our friends in the development community pointed to a few significant local government stumbling blocks to true housing supply acceleration:
- Lack of clear direction: In many cases, communities lay out what they don’t want, but have a tougher time stating what they do want.
- Lack of coordination: Without a vision, every department in the development chain instills its own flavor on project review. Planning Board wants this, fire marshal wants that, water department wants the other.
- Mismatched values and regulations: Most communities will at least acquiesce to the idea that they’d like to be able to house their own workforce (muffled whisper — “affordability”). Every community touts the value of open space. How does a 1-acre lot minimum achieve that?
- Mismatched values and attitudes: Every community is hoping to attract new investment — in one form or another. Is the culture at City Hall geared to that?
Based on this discussion, we identified some really low-hanging fruit that could jumpstart housing development in your community:
- Establish a vision for growth and development: You’ll never grow into the community you want to see unless you define the community you want to see. Engage your community, help them understand the market dynamics of the region, and curate a unique identity and vision for your community. Then, communicate that to the market — developers with appetites for product that don’t align with your vision likely won’t even waste their time and money.
- Instill an investment-friendly culture: Once you know what kind of community you want to be, orient the culture at City Hall to welcome development that aligns well. Move from review/enforcement to facilitation. “How can I help you?” as opposed to “What do you want?” Every frontline employee should know and embrace the vision and be able to spot markers for advancing it.
Those first two things cost relatively very, very little. Just doing them will likely put you ahead of your neighbors…then…
- Align regulations and processes to your vision: Ask yourself, “What value does each regulation/process add to the vision?” If the answer is “none,” then ask yourself why it’s there. The development process is the largest element of risk that local government leaders can control. If you can minimize the risk, it will result in products that most closely align with your vision.
- Address “shovel-ready” elements: The term “shovel-ready” gets thrown around a lot and means different things to different audiences. Some elements of shovel-ready can be pretty expensive (i.e., relocating those pesky transmission lines). Identify lots you want for housing, zone them appropriately, secure fair asking prices from the owner, and identify infrastructure location and capacity. You’re ahead of the game at that point.
Much of this seems like a no-brainer, but sometimes the most obvious is the most overlooked. When was the last time your City Council seriously discussed their 15-year vision? Has anyone asked whether your regulatory framework produces the product you are looking for? Does everyone from the mayor to the permit tech have a shared enthusiasm for aligned development? If so, kudos…if not, these aren’t heavy lifts…