The Wall Street Journal takes a stab at recommendations for adding/maintaining affordable housing in pricey cities like ours. Among the recommendations is increasing supply (great idea…if there was affordable land to do so on). Short of creating more land out of thin air, changing zoning in neighborhoods to allow higher density dwelling units (think duplexes, multifamily options, apartments, apodments, etc) could be a solution. You may recall a leaked plan by the city to blanket rezone the city: huge opposition from homeowners (understandably) ensued. Next up is, possibly, a revised approach to rezoning that will create commercial corridors with higher-density housing. We would chance to guess that such a plan would rezone areas on and around major arterials. We’ve already seen low-density single-story properties along Roosevelt, Market and 45th, for example, be redeveloped into multi-story mixed-use properties. With major transportation routes located along the arterials, future residents in these areas may benefit from proximity to public transportation and fulfill another major goal of the city to reduce car traffic.
http://on.wsj.com/1T8zIEc
