Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Less_Wrong_ t1_iy8i7w6 wrote

Just abolish SFH-only zoning and stop making it illegal to build duplexes, triplexes, apartments. Please. It’s not difficult

75

stache_twista OP t1_iy8x84h wrote

I agree that encouraging new housing supply in general will help with affordability

16

VulcanMind1 t1_iya6unl wrote

In DC the elephant in the room is changing the hight restrictions that can only be changed by Congress. The second best option is what was proposed in the article to take land that is less desirable above Metro stops and make them apartments.

Building high density apartments near public transportation has been around for hundreds of years. It was why retail had apartments above it on roads with street cars. 100 years ago. America ignored this solution when building nightmare suburbs that require a car to get anywhere and shop any where.

7

jednorog t1_iyaj5w4 wrote

I strongly suspect that DC could meet most of its housing needs by eliminating SFH zoning, without even touching the Height Act. I haven't run the numbers and I could be wrong here, but I strongly suspect it.

14

oxtailplanning t1_iyauafq wrote

Also pushing all the NIMBYS into the Pit on 1600 M St SE.

Height act and SFH zoning didn't block MacMillan for years, or the Adams Morgan SunTrust plaza, stupid NIMBY boomers did.

12

Barnst t1_iycnuru wrote

DC zoning rules are often more restrictive than the Congressional height limit, so there is plenty of space to improve using just what is within DC’s own power to change.

Just looking at Columbia Heights, for example, all of those RA-2 areas are limited to 50 ft, which is why you have all those 4-5 story buildings between 14th and 16th. The height restriction is 90ft for those blocks, which means we can almost double the available volume just by fixing the zoning.

The bigger question is whether to let denser apartments encroach into the townhouses. You could add a lot of housing to that neighborhood simply by expanding RA-4 to 13 between Girard and Park.

11

ballsohaahd t1_iy9re3x wrote

I thinks that’s a good idea but those duplexes and triplexes are gonna cost what a single family home did a few years ago, and hence it’s still not gonna be affordable.

I don’t know what the solution is. But IMO the duplexes and triplexes creates a slightly less expensive home but way smaller and the price per sq foot is gonna be much higher.

Also those are gonna be new construction and new construction always costs a huge premium. So right away those places aren’t going to be affordable and it would take 5-10 years, if ever, for all housing costs to go down. As we’ve seen costs basically never go down no matter what, and wages never really rise more than costs.

−4

giscard78 t1_iy9xxgk wrote

> I don’t know what the solution is. But IMO the duplexes and triplexes creates a slightly less expensive home but way smaller and the price per sq foot is gonna be much higher.

There are probably households who would choose a duplex or triplex in Tenleytown (or similar neighborhood) over a rowhome flip Brightwood (or similar neighborhood) relieving pressure on the latter. In some ways, it’s probably about 30 years too late, but better now than never.

16

ballsohaahd t1_iya3i38 wrote

Yea there’s def no good solution. And over time the duplexes and triplexes would increase supply, but it’s possible not by very much or new people moving in / population growth would negate the effects.

Also I’m shocked all apartments everywhere are so expensive. Even some older ones. I remember 2013-2015 rents in Clarendon were getting over $1000 a month and I thought that was expensive at the time. Now they’re more than double at like $2000-$2500 (1 BR) and that’s been basically 7-8 years. DC is even more too.

Will they double again and be $4000+ by 2030 (again 1 BR)? What will wages even look like, and wouldn’t even wanna look what wages are compared to inflation which shows no sign of slowing.

It’s gonna be very interesting what happens if the economy does crash and there’s mass layoffs. We’re already seeing layoffs in tech of all sectors. 2023 will be an interesting year.

1

VulcanMind1 t1_iya5gd3 wrote

Lame wall of text with no numbers. Typically McMansion is $1,500,000 at 4,000 square feet. That can be subdivided into 4 condos at $375,000 units at 1,000 SF. This would be massively affordable to a lot of middle class people.

3

ballsohaahd t1_iya7m5s wrote

Better than some made up numbers lmfao. How would a 1.5 mil mansion just be divided by 4 into 4 units at 375k?! Please explain, Makes absolutely no sense.

You need 4 full kitchens, 4 sets of full bathrooms, 4 master bed rooms. 4 living rooms next to the kitchens at an absolute minimum. That’s the Bare minimum for 4 1BR condos. The bedrooms need big windows to crawl out of for emergency, so a basement room usually can’t count as a legit room. The original house will have at most 2 full bathrooms, one master bedroom, one kitchen, and massive renovations to just separate the units.

You need to spend a ton of money to retrofit even a big house. They’re not designed to be easily converted into anything leastwise 4 separate units, and it could even be cheaper to tear it down and build from scratch.

Also there are no 1000 sq feet 1 BR condos, most are 700-800 sq feet and if theyre a newer building ain’t anywhere near as cheap as 375k. So these ‘affordable’ 1 BR condos would end up easily costing 500K+, which is much less affordable than existing 1 BR condos available.

5

dc_co t1_iyab9a3 wrote

Yep have a 20+ year old 812/sqft condo and it would resell for $550k with a $450/hoa.

Statements like the one above yours says a mcmansion is $1.5m/4000 sqft. That's $375 a square foot. Prices in the district are over $500.

https://www.redfin.com/city/12839/DC/Washington-DC/housing-market

4

ballsohaahd t1_iyae46q wrote

Haha yea stuff is real expensive now. Love these actual accurate numbers too 😉🙃

2

CaptainObvious110 t1_iye27w1 wrote

Those should become illegal to build altogether. Build apartment buildings there instead.

3