This monograph explores the effects of government regulations on housing costs in all areas in which housing construction is touched by government. From the national to the local level, the impact of zoning laws, environmental controls, building codes, settlement and financing regulations, and other regulations are assessed in terms of mandated dollars which developers and builders--and thus the consumer--must spend. Based on a national sampling of interviews and case studies, this volume explores regulatory cost implications and shows how to determine the total cost effect of government regulations on housing costs.

Homeownership - a core American Dream - remains elusive to millions of families priced out of the unstable housing market. This book explores the delicate balance between regulations designed to promote the production of sound, affordable housing in safe community environments and the red tape in which housing developers become entangled.Based on case studies of communities in New Jersey and North Carolina, and building on extensive research on the housing development regulatory process, the authors examine the incidence of regulation and quantify the actual itemized costs of excessive regulation. How are the costs of excessive regulation distributed between developers and home buyers? How can state and local jurisdictions reform deeply entrenched regulatory systems to ease the delivery of affordable housing from developer to purchaser?Red Tape and Housing Costs examines the incidence of regulation. The distribution of these costs is critical to housing affordability. At the same time, developers shift to building housing for consumers to whom they can pass on the increasing costs of regulation. Michael I. Luger and Kenneth Temkin provide policymakers and housing advocates with hard facts and reasoned explanations about the link between excessive regulations and spiraling housing costs. The authors argue that their analysis will allow policymakers to launch efforts to create responsible housing development regulatory systems.