Matt Hughes for Raleigh News & Observer - We Need to Rethink Housing Codes to Make Ownership Attainable

The Orange County Tax Assessor’s Office recently sent out property revaluation notices, sparking the usual debate over methodology and accuracy. But this year’s average increase of 49.5%, with many homeowners seeing spikes over 100%, underscores a bigger issue: we still have no real plan for housing affordability, or as I like to describe it, housing attainability.

Our community hasn’t made the tough calls needed to modernize land use policies or expand housing supply. We often act as if the usual economic rules don’t apply here, but they do and with detrimental effect. The core drivers of rising housing costs are supply, demand and restrictive land-use regulations.

Consider Austin, Texas. Once one of the least affordable cities in Texas, it’s seen rents drop for 19 straight months thanks to a housing boom. Or right next door in Durham where rents have decreased nearly 12% from last year! The lesson is clear: more housing brings down prices.

Across Orange County, however, slow and rigid approval processes that attempt to legislate taste and scrutinize innovation actually increase project costs and delay new construction. Each hurdle — whether a design change or bureaucratic holdup — adds time and expense, reducing the chance for naturally occurring affordable housing to emerge or be preserved.

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