Three things we could actually do about housing

I have lived in Orem for twenty-nine years. The house I live in would cost something very different today than it did when we moved in, and I know how many families are doing that arithmetic right now and coming up short.

Affordability is not one problem with one fix. There are specific things a state legislature can do, though, and these are the ones I keep coming back to.

Keep the affordable housing we already have. The cheapest affordable home is the one that already exists. Repair grants and acquisition loans let older housing be rehabilitated instead of lost, and they keep the people already living there from being displaced. We spend enormous attention on building new and very little on holding on to what we have.

Use density bonuses. Let a developer exceed unit or height limits in exchange for guaranteeing a number of genuinely affordable units in the project. It costs the public almost nothing and it produces housing that would not otherwise get built.

Make accessory dwelling units easier. Basement apartments. Backyard cottages. A room over a garage. Restrictive ordinances and slow permitting make these harder than they need to be, and they are among the most practical housing we have. They let a young couple get started, and they let an aging parent live near family instead of far away from it.

None of this is dramatic. Housing policy rarely is. It is mostly a matter of removing obstacles we put up ourselves, one ordinance at a time, which is unglamorous work and the kind I am happy to do.