, Columnist
Affordable Housing Is Easy. In Theory.
The hard part is overcoming special interests that like cities just the way they are.
Go big or go home.
Photographer: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
If a city full of liberal technocrats can't make affordable housing happen locally, what hope is there for the federal government to achieve that nationally? Well, Washington's failures have not deterred the White House from dreaming.
Its proposals are eminently sensible: streamline permitting processes, zone for larger dwellings, and most importantly, allow developers to build “of right,” which is to say, if they’ve met the zoning requirements, they should be able to put up the building without further interference from the local community.