Can a National Zoning Atlas Chart a Way Out of the US Housing Crisis?
Neighborhood-level zoning maps are powerful tools for reform, housing advocates say. But untangling local land-use regulations on a national scale is no easy feat.
Explore the byzantine zoning codes of Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Credit: National Zoning Atlas
Two years ago, a Montana think tank called the Frontier Institute released a new tool to help push the group’s advocacy for pro-housing reforms: a zoning atlas, one of the first of its kind. The atlas used parcel-level data to analyze local regulations that restrict how and where homes can be built, an issue for a state with skyrocketing housing costs. The study revealed that more than 70% of residential areas in Montana’s most in-demand communities prohibited the construction of even modest duplex homes, much less apartment buildings.
The response was swift: Five lawmakers, all young Republicans in Montana’s legislature, cited the zoning atlas in a March 2022 opinion column in the Helena Independent Record calling on the state to take action to ease restrictive zoning. Governor Greg Gianforte convened a housing task force soon after to come up with solutions. Less than a year later, in spring 2023, Montana passed a suite of pro-housing bills, fast-tracking reforms that have vexed coastal states for years.