A new Urban Land Institute (ULI) report, Yes in My Backyard, shows how state and local governments can create more of the housing options communities increasingly need through smarter local land use policies and incentives.

The report provides ULI members and other real estate leaders with actionable advice on how their states and cities can create a better policy environment for housing development, with real examples from states around the country.

Yes in My Backyard finds that state and local collaboration on housing can create a lower cost of doing business, a more efficient real estate market, and a wider array of options for buyers and renters across the income spectrum.

The report suggests five specific ways that states can help cities and counties promote the development of sufficient housing supply, based on existing efforts underway in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

• Ensure that localities and regions are assessing their housing needs for the future. Because many communities do not analyze their housing needs or assess the importance of housing to economic growth, states should establish and enforce workable standards.
• Provide incentives to local communities to zone for new housing. Zoning often needs to be modified to allow for and encourage development of needed new housing. States can support communities’ efforts with financial and technical assistance.
• Reduce regulatory requirements that increase costs and stifle development. States can use their authority and creativity to cut the regulatory red tape that unnecessarily makes housing more expensive.
• Authorize cities to invest their own resources linked to pro-housing land use. Even with appropriate zoning, local jurisdictions often need state approval to offer their own incentives for construction of below-market-rate housing.
• Enable local communities to overcome unreasonable neighborhood opposition. Community opposition can drive up the cost of—or completely derail—the construction of new housing. States can provide mechanisms to moderate “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) opposition and make it easier to build housing needed to support local growth.

In addition to case studies of states that have successfully used these approaches, the report provides broad-based insights to help inform others, and includes a comprehensive set of resources for communities interested in taking action.

Read the Full Report