Part 4: 41 Additional Strategies and Impacts to Improve Affordable Housing in Sioux Falls

As the last part of our 4-part series on Affordable Housing for Sioux Falls we offer some additional strategies to consider.

Ineffective and Sometimes Harmful Strategies

• Urban blight — Reduces housing costs but harms communities and concentrates poverty
• Cheap suburban development — Reduces housing costs but increases transport and sprawl costs
• Rent control — Benefits existing residents but reduces lower-priced housing development
• Preserve older, affordable housing — Preserves old, cheap housing but may reduce new, denser development
• Restrict rental-to-owner conversions — Benefits existing residents but reduces lower-priced housing development

Generally Effective But Costly Strategies

• Support housing development and purchase — Primarily benefits affluent homebuyers. May do little to increase affordability
• Social housing — Increases affordable housing supply
• Inclusionary zoning (affordability mandates) — Subsidizes housing for some households but increases costs to others
• Targeted housing subsidies — Benefits people who receive subsidies, but may displace others
• Subsidize urban fringe transportation — Is costly and exacerbates traffic problems
• Sweat equity and volunteer construction — Potential is generally small compared with total affordable housing needs

Most Effective and Beneficial Strategies

• Increase allowable densities and heights — Allows more affordable, compact, infill development
• Allow and support compact housing types — Allows more affordable, compact, infill development
• Minimize & pro-rate fees for inexpensive housing — Reduces costs of inexpensive, infill housing development
• Reduce development regulations — Reduce building approval time, expense and uncertainty
• Expedite affordable housing approval — Reduces costs and time for lower-priced housing approvals
• Density bonuses and requirements — Encourages developers to build more affordable housing
• Lending reforms and incentives — Reduces development financing costs
• Identify parcels suitable for infill — Helps developers build infill housing
• Provide free or inexpensive land — Helps developers build affordable housing
• Brownfield remediation — Makes contaminated land available for development
• Land value tax and undeveloped land surtax — Encourages more compact urban development, reduces land speculation
• Encourage turnover of used houses — Increases the supply of used (and therefore lower-priced) housing
• Reform development and utility fees and taxes — Encourage more compact and affordable housing development
• Reform lending policies — Correct lending rules that favor sprawled and automobile-dependent housing
• Affordable housing targets and requirements — Encourages or requires communities to accept affordable housing
• Favor accessible locations for public housing — Increases accessible-affordable housing supply and demand.
• Allow smaller lots and urban parcel subdivision — Increases the supply of smaller urban lots
• Dynamic zoning — Allows communities to respond to increased affordable-accessible housing demand
• Address community concerns — Reduces community opposition to affordable infill development
• Improve building design — Reduces neighborhood opposition to affordable infill development
• Improve building efficiency — Reduces operating costs, which increases long-term affordability
• Address specific market distortions — Correct market distortions that reduce affordable housing
• Smart growth reforms — Encourages more compact development and reduces infill development costs
• Traffic and parking management — Reduces traffic and parking problems, and therefore opposition to infill development
• Unbundle parking — Reduces development costs and vehicle ownership
• Reduced & more accurate parking requirements — Reduces costs and increases land supply for affordable infill housing
• Allow development on parking lots — Often provides excellent sites for affordable-accessible housing
• Improve affordable transportation options — Improves accessibility, reduces household transport costs, reduces traffic impacts
• Discourage or prohibit rental restrictions — May increase the number of rental units available in a community
• Affordable housing maintenance programs — Preserves existing affordable housing stock

Again if you have thoughts on these strategies, we’d love to hear them. What have you experience work well or fail miserably? What examples do you have of these strategies being deployed?