Background and Recommendation
State and local governments are racing to unlock new housing supply through regulatory reforms but lack for a paved path; researchers haven't pinpointed which specific rule changes most effectively boost homebuilding.1 Fortunately, the federal government has the tools—data collection, research funding, and technical assistance programs focused on housing—to answer this question. With modest investments to enhance and better coordinate these capabilities, HUD could uncover and share the most powerful reform strategies, helping governments nationwide build their way to inclusive growth.
Analysis
Housing supply reforms are progressing faster than our understanding of what works. Reformers and regional planners are often left guessing, copying policies from other areas without knowing whether they will deliver results or how well they fit local needs and values.2
High-quality data and research on housing is difficult for other stakeholders to obtain. Academic researchers and larger planning departments must often purchase expensive data sets, like market rent and lending data, from private firms. The datasets that are public are spread across agencies, among other issues, creating a digital labyrinth only the experienced can navigate comfortably.3
Background and Recommendation
State and local governments are racing to unlock new housing supply through regulatory reforms but lack for a paved path; researchers haven't pinpointed which specific rule changes most effectively boost homebuilding.1 Fortunately, the federal government has the tools—data collection, research funding, and technical assistance programs focused on housing—to answer this question. With modest investments to enhance and better coordinate these capabilities, HUD could uncover and share the most powerful reform strategies, helping governments nationwide build their way to inclusive growth.
Analysis
Housing supply reforms are progressing faster than our understanding of what works. Reformers and regional planners are often left guessing, copying policies from other areas without knowing whether they will deliver results or how well they fit local needs and values.2
High-quality data and research on housing is difficult for other stakeholders to obtain. Academic researchers and larger planning departments must often purchase expensive data sets, like market rent and lending data, from private firms. The datasets that are public are spread across agencies, among other issues, creating a digital labyrinth only the experienced can navigate comfortably.3
Solving data coordination problems for researchers is part of the federal playbook. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll report is used by countless economists to understand and analyze the state of the macroeconomy.
Footnotes
1 Andrew Justus and Alex Armlovich, Evaluating the Reducing Regulatory Barriers to Housing Act, https://www.niskanencenter.org/evaluating-the-reducing-regulatory-barriers-to-housing-act/
2 Evidence-based research organizations and leaders play a positive role in spreading knowledge where it exists. But, for example, interviews noted that a proposed Pennsylvania state legislative reform package had been copied from a successful Montana reform, with no consideration of how the Montana reform had been weakened by opponents before passage. And policy from Oregon and California, reform states with somewhat region-specific affordability barriers, has also quickly proliferated nationwide.
3For example: Rent data can only be obtained through Census’ American Community Survey — exemplifying where HUD can play a role in centralizing and publishing data across agencies — but has known lags — an example of how private sources become useful
1 Andrew Justus and Alex Armlovich, Evaluating the Reducing Regulatory Barriers to Housing Act, https://www.niskanencenter.org/evaluating-the-reducing-regulatory-barriers-to-housing-act/
2 Evidence-based research organizations and leaders play a positive role in spreading knowledge where it exists. But, for example, interviews noted that a proposed Pennsylvania state legislative reform package had been copied from a successful Montana reform, with no consideration of how the Montana reform had been weakened by opponents before passage. And policy from Oregon and California, reform states with somewhat region-specific affordability barriers, has also quickly proliferated nationwide.
3 For example: Rent data can only be obtained through Census’ American Community Survey — exemplifying where HUD can play a role in centralizing and publishing data across agencies — but has known lags — an example of how private sources become useful
