Cities across the country are enacting “upzoning” measures as a way to try to meet housing demand and curtail soaring housing costs that often make it nearly impossible for teachers, firefighters and other middle-class workers to find homes in the cities where they work, the Wall Street Journal reported. Metropolitan areas including Dallas, Boston, Northern Virginia, Minneapolis and Portland, Ore., are considering or have already changed zoning regulations to allow more density. Housing experts caution that the impact of zoning changes on affordability remains to be determined, and the challenge is balancing the need for increased supply while ensuring that it doesn’t actually result in escalating housing costs that displace low-income residents. Upzoning has been controversial in many places where it has been tried, often getting pushback from residents and advocacy groups. In Northern Virginia’s Arlington County, the elected county board earlier this year voted to allow up to six housing units per lot in areas previously reserved for detached, single-family homes. The goal is for more duplexes, triplexes and townhomes to boost so-called missing middle housing stock. The median sale price of a home in Arlington County was $712,500 last month, up 21.5% from November 2022, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.
