Research - Research Projects

Housing and Community Development

At present, the Center is engaged in a search for a scholar to provide leadership in the area of housing and community development. Two projects led by Gerrit Knaap and Jungyul Sohn, however, best fit in this category.

Trends in Maryland Housing Markets

Summary of the Project:
Dr. Knaap and Dr. Sohn worked with the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association and the Home Builders Association of Maryland to conduct an analysis of housing trends in the Baltimore and Washington corridor. The Center collected subdivision and rezoning information from 15 of Maryland’s 23 counties.

The resulting report, Smart Growth, Housing Markets, and Development Trends, published in November 2003, concluded that constraints on development appear to be limiting the production of new housing in Maryland, adversely affecting affordability in the Baltimore and Washington suburbs, and deflecting growth to outlying counties.

The results of the study were presented by Dr. Knaap at a meeting of the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association and at the Annual Growth Conference sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Maryland. Dr. Sohn also presented results at the meetings of the Regional Science Association in Philadelphia. Additional presentations are scheduled for 2004.

For the full report, click here

Zoning as a Barrier to Affordable Housing

Summary of the Project:
With concerns about a national shortage of affordable housing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in collaboration with the Fannie Mae Foundation and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, has provided funding to the Center for Smart Growth to explore whether certain forms of zoning are barriers to affordable housing.

Because systematic evidence of the effects of exclusionary zoning is scarce, the objective of this project is to document and examine, on a pilot basis, whether zoning impedes the development of high-density or multi-family housing in growing metropolitan areas. The project involves the collection and assembly of GIS data from five to 10 metropolitan areas around the country.

Using data visualization and econometric techniques, Center researchers will identify the influence of exclusionary zoning on the availability of multifamily housing. ECONorthwest, a Eugene, Oregon, consulting firm, and the American Planning Association are assisting on the project.