Most people agree that local zoning rules are preventing construction of the kind of housing people want – even municipal governments themselves. Two bill packages in the Michigan legislature, including one proposed by associations for local governments, propose to reduce the zoning burden at the local level.

There is no question that — in Michigan and across the country — local governments substantially slow housing growth and construction. That is crystal clear in the research and it is why the state of Michigan has long preempted municipalities from zoning agriculture, establishing their own building codes, or including rental properties in zoning.

Local governments understand this. Many local leaders work to change zoning rules or issue variances so more housing can be built. And it is why the groups representing municipal governments in Michigan support incentives for local governments to loosen their zoning laws (despite representatives falsely and bizarrely saying there is “no evidence” zoning causes higher home prices).

A proposal from the municipal groups would have taxpayers spend $800 million to encourage local governments to reduce parking mandates, allow accessory dwelling units, allow duplexes, reduce mandated home sizes, and more. These are good reforms, but if they are good ideas, why aren’t the cities already doing it? Why do they need taxpayer money to make the changes? The bill package is long and complicated, with many loopholes and specific provisions that will further complicate the housing market. And at least one provision, parking, differs in its written language from what the promoters are describing. But at least it is encouraging that local government interest groups acknowledge the problem.

A competing package would simply limit what local governments can mandate of private property owners. There are many limits on zoning in current law, and this would expand those limits by stopping bans on duplexes, smaller homes, accessory dwelling units and smaller lot sizes.

Confusingly, the Michigan Municipal League proposes a statewide plan to lessen local zoning but also argues that local zoning has not slowed down housing. No matter how you slice it, Michigan isn’t building nearly as much as most other states. More importantly, we aren’t building enough to meet the demand for the housing our own citizens want. State lawmakers need to allow housing to get built — and we shouldn’t need more taxpayer subsidies to do so.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.