NC Ends Parking Minimums (almost) Statewide

Signed by Stein: On Monday, Governor Stein signed the Parking Lot Reform and Modernization Act (aka H162). When the bill takes effect on January 1st, 2027, North Carolina will be the first state in the nation to eliminate nearly all parking minimums statewide (parking minimums are still active in coastal counties), covering 90% of the state’s population.

First in the nation: While some cities had already removed parking mandates, and other states have limited them on housing projects or in transit areas, NC is leading the way on ending parking mandates across the board for housing and commercial projects alike. Allowing businesses and builders to choose how much parking they need has been shown to reduce costs, and it also reduces the environmental impact and flooding risks caused by parking lots.

Environmental Impact: It’s no secret that parking lots lead to major stormwater runoff, flooding, and pollution across our state. That’s why Catawba Riverkeepers was a key part of making this bill possible. Included in the bill is a provision that grants local municipalities the ability to offer incentives to increase stormwater protections when properties are redeveloped. This is a big win too.

More room for housing: To top it all off, NC’s parking reforms will make room for more homes in walkable areas. Cutting down on 30-minute commutes? Count us in! If you helped us advocate for this reform in any way, from calling your state senator to being a paid subscriber, we sincerely thank you.

Closer to Home:

Raleigh Considers Bringing Back Exempt Plats and Minor Subdivisions

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China Builds 26-Story Apartment Building in 5 Days

Manufactured marvel: Five days. That’s how long it took 100 workers in China to construct a 26-story residential tower. But if that sounds crazy, wait for this part: The workers didn’t mix any concrete, weld a single beam, or saw a single board. As Fix the News reports:

The modules arrived on flatbeds, 12m x3m x2.4m each, the exact footprint of a 40-foot shipping container — pre-wired, pre-piped, pre-furnished, and locked together like the world’s tallest piece of IKEA furniture.

High-speed housing: By assembling 208 move-in ready apartments in five days, Broad Sustainable Building has proven just how rapidly manufactured housing can be deployed. With the ROAD to Housing Act set to finally unleash the full potential of manufactured housing in the United States, it’s time to see if American companies can rival their Chinese counterparts in constructing housing with speed on a large scale.

Closer to Home:

NC Parking Reform Heads to Gov. Stein

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Trump Refuses to Sign ROAD Act; It Could Become Law Anyways

Congress passes ROAD Act: On Tuesday, the House passed the ROAD to Housing Act 358-32, one day after the Senate passed it 85-5. This is huge. After almost a year of negotiations, Congress just passed the most substantial housing reform bill in decades.

Trump refuses to sign: On Wednesday, President Trump refused to sign the bill, vowing to stonewall the legislation until the SAVE America Act is passed. However, Punchbowl News is reporting that House Speaker Johnson will present the ROAD Act to Trump on Monday, kicking off a 10-day window for him to either sign or veto the bill. If he does neither, the bill becomes law anyways.

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Federal ROAD to Housing Act Gets Even Better

Near the finish line: After ten long months of back-and-forth between the House and the Senate, the biggest federal housing bill in decades is close to becoming law. On Tuesday, the ROAD to Housing Act’s lead sponsors in the House and Senate released an encouraging joint statement on the bill’s final prospects. Sen. Scott said on CNBC that he expects the bill to pass in 2-3 weeks.

This bill is big: Pesky provisions that restricted build-to-rent housing were removed from the most recent version of the bill. Surprisingly, some great policies that the House stripped from the ROAD Act have made their way back in! Tahra Hoops from The Rebuild has a great summary of why this bill would be so transformative if signed into law.

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Illinois Eliminates Parking Minimums Near Transit

Illinois’ People Over Parking Act took effect on June 1st, eliminating parking minimums around transit corridors and hubs across the state.

The impact: According to housing advocate Micheal McLean, an estimated 781 square miles of Illinois are now exempt from municipal parking minimums. This includes a majority of the city of Chicago.

Transit triumph: Specifically, the law exempts from parking minimums any development project within one-half mile of a public transportation hub or one-eighth mile of a public transportation corridor. Check out just how big that area is using this map from Chicago Cityscape.

Closer to Home:

NC Parking Reform Makes it Through Senate Ag Committee

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Australian Housing Minister Issues Call To Build More Density

Danger down under: It’s not just America that faces a massive housing shortage, Australia is staring down a growing supply gap of hundreds of thousands of homes. During a speech at the National Press Club, the country’s Housing Minister, Clare O’Neil said:

“We need to build more dense cities in our country, full stop. […] For the first time, people are making the connection between the housing development down the street from them, and the capacity of their children to get into a home of their own. And that’s a connection that needs to be made.”

Anglosphere ailments: Housing shortages are currently hitting English-speaking countries much harder than other nations. As this graph from the Financial Times illustrates, The U.S., U.K., Australia, and more have experienced lower rates of housing growth than their European and East Asian peers.

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House Passes Improved ROAD To Housing Act 396-13

Back again: Last week, the House voted to pass the improved ROAD to Housing Act, notably stripped of its previous anti-Build-to-Rent provisions that would have eliminated ~10% of the nation’s yearly housing stock increase (that’s about 70,000 homes).

Senate rematch: Now the amended bill heads to the Senate. Suggesting that further negotiations lie ahead, Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren said in a joint statement: “There’s still work to be done and we are committed to continuing to work with the White House and our colleagues in the House on a housing bill that can pass the Senate and get to the President’s desk.”

Closer to Home:

Raleigh Council Approves Placing Housing & Transit Bonds on Ballot

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New York Times Shows How Restricting Housing Drives Up Prices

What happened: On May 18th, the New York Times published an interactive map of housing costs relative to area median income across the United States. When paired with graphs like the one above, the trend is clear: cities that allow more housing to be built have lower housing costs than cities that limit home construction.

Consistent findings: This NYT analysis joins the mountain of evidence that increasing housing supply is the most important factor in lowering rents and home prices. Explore the map here.

Closer to Home:

Governor Stein Signs Executive Order on Housing Solutions

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Improved ROAD to Housing Act Set for Vote

A better bill: Yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee reached a bipartisan agreement to pass an upgraded version of the ‘21st Century ROAD to Housing Act’, which passed the Senate in March.

Senate shortfalls: The Senate’s version of the bill contained a provision that would effectively halt the construction of build-to-rent housing in America, eliminating at least 70,000 new housing units per year (~10% of total housing construction).

House improvements: The new House version of the bill doesn’t contain the provisions eliminating build-to-rent, which is a major win for housing advocates. The bill still contains a ban on “large institutional investors” (companies that own more than 350 single-family homes) buying additional single-family homes. However, this ban is not expected to significantly depress housing construction.

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Portland Legalized Missing Middle, And It’s Getting Built

Even after legalizing missing middle housing, many jurisdictions see sluggish growth in ADUs, plexes, and townhomes. Oftentimes, governments allow middle housing on paper, but dozens of technical barriers remain, minimizing what can actually be built.

Portland is different: Portland, Oregon seems to have cracked the code, experiencing a major uptick in middle housing construction after it legalized up to four homes per lot citywide in 2020. From 2021-2022, more quadplexes were built than single-family homes.

How they did it: The key to Portland’s success is its reformed floor area ratio (FAR) policy. The more units a developer builds on a lot, the larger their FAR can be. In a typical R5 zone, a single-family home would have a maximum FAR of 0.5 to 1, but a quadplex on the same lot would have a maximum FAR of 0.9 to 1. This is a great example of a city taking proactive steps to make …

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Rhode Island Considers Landmark Single-Room Occupancy Legalization

Committee action: On March 31st, the Rhode Island General Assembly’s Housing Committee heard the ROOM Act, which would legalize single-room occupancy (SRO) housing in all residential and commercial areas statewide. The committee recommended the bill be held for further study.

What’s an SRO: Single-room occupancies are just as they sound: single rooms with access to shared kitchens and bathrooms, often available for rent on a daily or weekly basis. They constitute the cheapest form of housing available on the market, and are critical for preventing homelessness.

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Virginia Legalizes Manufactured Homes Everywhere

On March 31st, Governor Spanberger signed HB 655 (aka SB 346), legalizing manufactured homes in all residential areas zoned for single-family housing.

The effect: Any zone that permits single-family housing must now allow manufactured homes, with no additional restrictions. While existing zoning conditions (setbacks, buffers, lot sizes) still apply to manufactured homes, they cannot be different than conditions that apply to single-family homes.

Closer to Home:

Raleigh Housing Votes Are Fragmenting

Tuesday night’s City Council meeting made one thing clear. Housing approvals are happening, but they are not guaranteed. All of the housing cases passed, but several were close votes and came down to the specifics of each case.

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Colorado Lets Nonprofits, Universities, and More Bypass Zoning

Last week, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the HOME Act into law, requiring most municipalities to allow housing development nonprofits, transit agencies, school districts, public housing authorities, and universities to build housing on their land.

What’s allowed: Starting in 2028, the aforementioned organizations can build housing on their property regardless of municipal zoning restrictions. Residential structures can be up to three stories or 45 feet in height by right, and municipalities cannot limit the number of units in a given development.

Room for improvement: Notably, religious institutions were not included in the list of qualifying organizations. Legalizing faith-based housing by right would give places of worship the ability to provide living spaces for vulnerable community members, unlocking a massive amount of affordable housing across …

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Michigan Blows Past Housing Goal

In June 2022, Governor Whitmer announced a plan to build or rehabilitate 75,000 housing units statewide by 2027. As of October 2025, Michigan has issued over 86,000 building permits, surpassing that goal two years early.

Picking up steam: Recent years have racked up the highest permit totals, with 22,427 units approved in 2025. The raw numbers are even bigger: Michigan has applied a downward adjuster of 5% to its unit approval count, to reflect that on average, 5% of permits do not result in finished units. Whitmer has now increased the state’s housing goal to 115,000 units by 2027.

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Pew Study: More Housing Lowers Rents

A new report from Pew Research shows that zoning reforms and subsequent housing supply increases improve housing affordability for everyone.

The evidence: Pew’s study tracked Austin rents before and after major zoning reforms, and showed that rents dropped as the housing supply rose. From 2021 to 2025, Austin’s median rent fell by 4%, and inflation-adjusted rents declined by 19%, even as the city’s population grew by nearly 10%.

Low-income improvement: Rent declined the most in older, lower-cost, apartment buildings, which typically serve lower-income renters. This demonstrates that increased housing production improves affordability for the most vulnerable tenants.

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Senate Advances Housing Act, Concerns Remain

On Thursday, the Senate passed the anticipated ROAD to Housing Act, which contains several pro-housing policies. But a provision spearheaded by Senator Warren and pushed by President Trump places burdensome restrictions on investors constructing or owning build-to-rent housing. Concerns remain as to whether this provision outweighs the other, positive elements of the bill.

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Science Says: Building Luxury Housing Lowers Prices for All

A new study focused on a condo tower in Honolulu has shown that the construction of new luxury and market-rate housing lowers the cost of housing in the broader market.

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Illinois Governor Proposes Massive Upzoning Statewide

On Wednesday, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker proposed a zoning package that would increase housing supply across the state.

Pritzker’s plan: The Building Up Illinois Developments (BUILD) plan would legalize several missing middle housing types (duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, cottage courts, and townhomes) on lots over 5,000 sq ft in cities of 25,000 people or more. It would also legalize ADUs statewide.

Tackling the shortage: Illinois has a housing shortage of more than 142,000 units. The BUILD plan would legalize missing middle housing in 87 cities, containing more than half of Illinois’ population. If passed with sufficient safeguards against local obstruction, Pritzker’s plan would significantly increase the housing supply statewide.

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Commercial Housing Bill Headed to Virginia Governor’s Desk

North Carolina’s neighbor turned up the heat last week, sending a major housing bill to Gov. Spanberger’s desk.

Policy progress: The “Housing for Jobs” bills that cleared Virginia’s legislature would allow by-right multifamily development along commercial corridors throughout the state. Any commercial zoning that allows single-family homes would now have to permit multifamily housing, with few exceptions.

Heated rivalry: The North Carolina General Assembly considered similar legislation last year, but it stalled in committee. Will our state leaders let Virginia beat us at our own pro-housing game? Your move, NCGA.

Closer to Home:

Leigh Village Approved Despite Traffic Pushback

Durham City Council voted 5–2 to approve the Leigh Village Center rezoning along Route 54 near I-40. The 81-acre site sits inside the Urban Growth Boundary, is designated a Transit Opportunity Area in the Comprehensive Plan, and was once part of Durham’s Light Rail plans. The rezoning allows phased mixed-use development over the next decade or two, with expanded affordability provisions and land dedicated for a future public park.

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House Passes Housing for the 21st Century Act

On Feb 9th, the House passed the Housing for the 21st Century Act by a vote of 390-9.

What’s next: The bill will have to be reconciled with its Senate counterpart, the ROAD to Housing Act, then passed by both chambers again before it heads to the president’s desk.

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