In just the last few years, at least a dozen states and many individual cities and towns have enacted sweeping zoning reform and housing supply measures. Even as more states and communities are poised to act, the federal government has begun to lean in on the issue as well. At the same time, economic and workforce trends coming out of the pandemic are creating new pressures and demands as many places look at issues like reimagining their downtowns. These forces appear likely to continue and efforts to pursue land use, zoning, and housing reforms are poised to strengthen.
Planners in communities across the nation are tackling complex challenges to boost housing supply, improve housing affordability, and reimagine their downtowns. Issues like conversion of commercial office building to residential or mixed use, adaptive reuse, and re-legalizing missing middle housing are at the forefront of the planning agenda.
The question confronting a growing number of planners and local officials is no longer whether reform will happen, but how. This workshop will dig deep into how. Using a combination of APA’s Zoning Reform Policy Guide, new federal tools and resources, and analysis of state and local reforms underway, we will identify the critical trends and workshop ideas and options for effective implementation. Get involved in helping identify the options and obstacles to making reform work and discover how planners can use their unique understanding, expertise, and vision to help lead local housing change.
