Ivory Homes CEO Clark Ivory recently visited Washington, D.C., to tour townhomes, study innovative ideas related to housing, and meet with Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney’s team (and Romney via zoom) to discuss what can be done to address the housing affordability crisis.
Romney asked if there are states or cities “where there is not a problem of affordable housing … that we can learn from,” other than “those that are shrinking.”
Ivory said there are cities “that have done a lot to make a difference in housing affordability, whether it be going through massive rezoning that allows for more flexibility,” and plenty of cities are engaging in more “public-private partnerships” to help facilitate projects, in some cases on land owned by a state, city or school district.
He also pointed to Oregon, which effectively ended single-family zoning, and cities including Minneapolis that have nixed single-family zoning and now allow triplexes by-right, or more through a more streamlined process, as well as Utah’s 2021 law to make accessory dwelling units that are internal or attached to a single family dwelling permitted uses.
