Drupal

As an at-large candidate for the Raleigh city council I am concerned about the welfare of the entire city. I genuinely care about all the citizens in every corner of the city and will be their advocate if elected to council. I am captive to no constituency or special interest.

On my mind of late has been southeast Raleigh, and the problems many parts of that community face. The prosperity and dynamism the rest of the city has enjoyed has unfortunately passed much of SE Raleigh by. There continues to be a dearth of safe, affordable housing in this important part of the city despite many millions of dollars of municipal and federal housing programs. A prerequisite for a more electric, more prosperous community is a plentiful supply of affordable housing, with residents as owners and stakeholders in the future of their neighborhoods.

I think it is time to address the problem anew. I recommend that the city make a new addition to its zoning classifications: Opportunity Zone (OZ). The opportunity zone would be a "zone without zoning" where no zoning ordinances would apply. In other words within the zone there would be no restrictions on what type of property could be developed. Additionally, development within the opportunity zone would receive an accelerated or streamlined approval through the planning commission, or get to bypass such bureaucracy altogether.

From an economics perspective, such a policy would have the consequence of shifting the supply curve outward for residential and commercial properties within the zone. By focusing on the supply rather than the demand side this would keep real estate prices and rents relatively low. Additionally, a "zone without zoning" would offer a wonderful laboratory within the city for testing solutions for more walkable mixed use neighborhoods. Opportunity zones would spur economic activity not only through increased development, but through an explosion of home-based businesses freed from restrictive zoning regulations.

The example of Houston is a compelling one for such a policy. Houston is the fourth largest city in America and the largest in the south and has no zoning regulations whatsoever. The cost of living in Houston is among the lowest of all urban settings in the United States. Houston has the lowest cost of living and least expensive housing among twenty-nine metropolitan areas with populations of more than 1.7 million in the U.S. In Houston you can find single family homes from $70,000 to the multimillion dollar mansion. According to Apartment Data Services, Houston also has among the lowest rents in the country, even lower than Raleigh. I found it interesting that when Houston citizens last rejected attempts at zoning the city in their 1993 referendum it was lower income neighborhoods that came out most strongly against it.

Let's start talking again about how we can include SE Raleigh in the prosperity and dynamism the rest of the city enjoys! I hope my proposal will help spark that discussion.