Many fast-growing metropolitan regions in the United States have a shortage of housing and face a housing affordability crisis. Researchers have argued that regulatory barriers contribute to housing shortages and recommended that cities change their land-use policies to facilitate multifamily and higher-density development to address the problem. This presentation will focus on cities in the five county Southern California region, which has a shortage of housing for all income groups and a severe shortage of low-income housing. This talk will show that more even distribution of multifamily residential land use is required to equitably address the region’s housing affordability crisis, which could be achieved if the multifamily residential land use within jurisdictions more closely approximated the metropolitan average.
About the Speaker
Professor Ajay Garde is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at UC Irvine. Professor Garde’s research focuses on planning and urban design with a particular focus on spatial/physical, environmental, and social problems related to the built environment. Professor Garde studies innovations in urban design, their impact on urban form, and their implications for public policy. Professor Garde’s research addresses the following types of questions:
- How might the planning and design of built environment contribute to making our cities more sustainable, equitable, and livable?
- What is the future of urbanism in the post-COVID-19 world?
- What are the implications of land use change in metropolitan regions in which municipalities compete with each other for tax revenues and Tiebout sorting?
- What are the regulatory and non-regulatory barriers to affordable housing and how might cities address the need for affordable housing?
Professor Garde’s research is supported by grants and fellowships from the Haynes Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS), and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
