You’re not wrong, but developers have a lot of pull in local government and their influence on those policies shouldn’t be overlooked. They’re also pushing for single-family zoning because the profit margins on those are higher than on multi-family.
As someone very involved in local politics, it’s been my experience that the NIMBYs have way more influence than the developers.
Also, the “profit margins are higher on single-family than multi-family” is a result of the zoning, not a reason for it. If zoning were reformed to be sane, profit margins on multifamily would be higher (in part, for example, because land zoned for multifamily wouldn’t be artificially inflated in price due to extreme scarcity).
You’re not wrong, but developers have a lot of pull in local government and their influence on those policies shouldn’t be overlooked. They’re also pushing for single-family zoning because the profit margins on those are higher than on multi-family.
As someone very involved in local politics, it’s been my experience that the NIMBYs have way more influence than the developers.
Also, the “profit margins are higher on single-family than multi-family” is a result of the zoning, not a reason for it. If zoning were reformed to be sane, profit margins on multifamily would be higher (in part, for example, because land zoned for multifamily wouldn’t be artificially inflated in price due to extreme scarcity).