Legislature should examine costs of our land use laws

For some years economists have recognized that land use laws are a financial expense but unfortunately knowing how much was difficult to pin down. Finally we may be getting some answers.

The National Bureau of Economic Research released a report in April of this year on the costs of land use laws. On May 18, Atlantic magazine’s blog City Lab titled a report on this study: “The Urban Housing Crunch Costs the U.S. Economy About $1.6 Trillion a Year.”

Another blog, Building Design and Construction, notes that the study found that “too much of America’s urban economic power is simply being wasted on higher housing bills.”

Costs of this magnitude are a significant problem for families and communities. Hopefully our state legislature will take some time to look at this issue in the next session.

This story was originally published October 27, 2015 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Legislature should examine costs of our land use laws."