Killing the American Dream to Save a Mythic Suburban One

Recommendable! Not only restrict zoning rules to single family homes they also require usually stick built or on site construction, thus prohibiting much cheaper manufactured or modular homes.

"The United States is in the midst of a housing crisis, and California has been hit especially hard. Costs to purchase and rent are increasing much faster than wages, and more Americans than ever believe homeownership is an unrealistic goal — including 48% of renters, according to one survey. One of the primary causes is zoning reform opponents’ Herculean efforts to preserve archaic regimes that restrict most residential land in the United States to single‐​family use — 61% in 2019. Upzoning some of these single‐​family zones to multi‐​family use would help ease the shortage, as more residential units become available with the construction of new duplexes and triplexes, with the benefit of giving individuals more freedom over what they can do with their own land. In a similar vein, it would allow a freer market to decide which neighborhoods remain single‐​family and which begin to reflect a growing preference for an urban‐​suburban synthesis. ..."

Killing the American Dream to Save a Mythic Suburban One | Cato Institute Upzoning more single‐​family neighborhoods for multi‐​family use is a must for any comprehensive plan to ease America’s endemic housing crisis.