Policies to Help Communities Recover : Housing Restrictions

Over the past decade, housing supply restrictions across US cities have contributed to anemic housing construction and high prices in some of the most in-demand locations. In the best of times, these rules have burdened renters and homeowners with unaffordable housing costs. They have also reduced income mobility and economic growth. Today, restrictions on the amount and type of housing that localities permit are also contributing to the coronavirus's public health crisis. This brief offers reforms to promote housing availability and affordability and to reduce the contribution of housing shortages to the spread of disease