Create Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices
Let’s be frank: “Housing Opportunities” really means affordable housing—especially subsidized affordable housing. The immediate consequence is an increase in costs for all other types of 
housing. On the other hand, if the free market were left entirely unfettered, a wide range of housing opportunities and choices would certainly result when businesses respond to consumer demands. As used by Smart Growthers, the word “Create” implies that government should impose new conditions and regulations. However, recent housing trends have shown that overregulation and ever increasing costs imposed by government to pay for pet projects have placed the vast majority of homes (more than 95% in some areas) out of reach for families earning the local median income. One cannot dispute these hard, statistical facts.
What needs to happen is for local governments to increase the supply of land available for housing, allow for more flexible zoning, and reduce impact fees. Home prices would then come down and the demand for affordable housing would begin to be filled. Wendell Cox, in his book entitled “War on the Dream,” points out that the restrictive land use policies advocated by the Smart Growthers result in a dramatic loss of affordable housing and adds that cities with the most restrictive land use rules have the highest housing prices, while cities with more relaxed rules have relatively lower prices.
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