Speaking of trampling on local control, Governor Kristi Noem plans to extend her war against local zoning authority to neuter municipal governments’ ability to manage housing development in their communities.
In a press release Friday, Governor Noem promised a bill to “streamline” and “simplify” municipal zoning requirements to keep housing prices down:
“South Dakota’s housing market is booming, and that’s tremendous news, but we don’t want home prices to skyrocket as a result,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “We’re streamlining zoning regulations at the city level, building off last year’s success, to ensure that the cost of living remains affordable for residents of our great state. Restrictive zoning laws make it harder for South Dakotans – especially our young people – to find affordable housing. It is essential that we make changes like these to help young adults and young families achieve the American Dream of owning a home. This will have the added benefit of spurring housing development to keep up with the folks moving to South Dakota who want to share our freedom and way of life.”
Last year, Governor Noem supported and signed SB 157, which simplified zoning regulations at the county level. This year’s legislation will make similar improvements to the zoning process at the municipal level.
Restrictive zoning laws make it more expensive to build homes. As Mercatus Center recently testified to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “State and local regulatory constraints on housing supply are the primary cause of high and rising housing prices.” Governor Noem’s legislation will relax such constraints to drive lower housing prices for South Dakotans [Governor Kristi Noem, press release, 2021.01.22].
Regulatory constraints are not the primary cause of high and rising housing prices. Housing prices are up because of rising demand and lower mortgage rates. Local zoning rules aren’t stopping young working families from finding affordable homes; workers are priced out of homeownership by income inequality, South Dakota’s crap wages, and market forces that induce contractors to build higher-profit McMansions on Lake Madison instead of building and restoring modest starter homes in town.
We’ll have to see the specifics of this promised statewide municipal zoning bill to see what game Noem is playing against local governments. Noem’s bill last year to override county zoning authority was another sop to factory feedlots; maybe her push against local zoning ordinances is a stealth attack on municipal authority over their three-mile-out zones to ease the way for CAFOs to build closer to town. Or maybe defanging municipal zoning rules is just a political ploy to add to Kristi’s talking points on the Presidential campaign trail about deregulation, even though clearing out local zoning requirements may only transfer cash from the municipalities to the contractors’ pockets, not any real savings to homebuyers.
As a former city zoning commission chair, I can tell you that zoning ordinances do not make housing more expensive so much as they make an entire town/city more livable, AND eliminate a lot of “playing favorites” in small towns and cities when it come to who gets to build what where. The real problem with municipal zoning ordinances in SD is the Trumpian streak that exists in commission members attitudes which leads to either a lack of enforcement or selective enforcement.
Mercatus Center is Koch Brothers operation.
The federal goverment is too big, the municipal government is too small, the state government is just right. South Dakota freedom is Kristi control.
How does city zoning look when an entire subdivision is built overtop abandoned gypsum mine? I’d guess there would be more than a black eye and embarrassment, but I am from iowa. What do I know?
Is Kristi saying that working families can’t afford housing in this right-to-work-for-less, minimum wage state? Maybe we should put tariffs on any goods coming into SD to help subsidize those that are struggling. It works for farmers, right, Kristi?
Wonder where she got this idea? Not enough “there” in the gray matter to think of it on her own. She does run fast and loose with a former real estate developer/president. Might be an out of town funder seeking unrestricted development beyond housing… be interesting when all the water is sucked up and the sewer system is over capacity. Heck the state might fund a Trump Tower in Murdo with left over CARE dollars. I can imagine a smile on the lips of The Kristi, The Trump and The Thune. The joys of a 1 party state.
As others have stated, the issue in South Dakota isn’t so much one of zoning constraining the development of new housing as the level of rent or mortgage affordable to many residents not aligning with the economics of building *any* new market rate housing.
For the record this is at least as big a deal in smaller towns as places like Sioux Falls, Rapid, and Brookings. Look at what’s available to buy or rent in, say Pierre and compare with the typical salaries of entry-mid range state jobs.
Local zoning laws in South Dakota are not onerous. If you lived in San Francisco, New York, L.A., Miami and some other larger metropolitan areas, then yes, zoning laws can increase housing costs substantially. But not South Dakota. Some landowners/developers may argue that housing costs would be lower if they didn’t have to install sewer, water, and paved roads. Those costs per lot are less than the cost of building materials and labor. Furthermore, if these developments are eventually annexed by a nearby municipality, the costs to a homeowner can be extremely high to pay assessments for paved streets, curb and gutter, city sewer, etc. In other words, those costs are much higher than if the infrastructure was installed when the land was developed. In these situations, the only person who benefits is the landowner and developer who profited by not having to incur infrastructure costs.
You got it Whitless. – 20 year long running battle with someone who own property “on the edge of Lennox” and wants to “develop”: it into “rural residential” housing *across highway 44 from town). Got a certain Lincoln County Commissioner named Schmidt to support re-zoning the land as the same by calling $500k + houses (his “engineer” stated that would be the typical value) as “affordable housing” (the commissioner’s words). No graded/shaped roads, no storm sewer (it’s low land) no municipal water, no municipal sewer (the treatment plant is across the road – AND downhill from the Southern Boundary of the land)m no fire hydrants, no city property taxes,………..
She doesn’t have the authority to tell cities to enact a mask mandate during a pandemic but does have the authority to shove revised zoning laws down their throats. Makes perfect sense.
When you live in a one party state, enabling the controlling party to act like a hammer; everything becomes a nail; with or without a mask on. The Noem doesn’t have the authority, just an idea whispered in her ear then she passing it to her legislator buds. Just like the anti riot law rush into action a couple times now and maybe a third or fourth or more times… got to protect those good hard working SD workers imported into Phillip and Winner from those tree hugging environmentalists wearing beads, cowboy hats and tie-dye clothing. Oh cannot forget those Indians, remember what they did to the settlers back in the day, it’s in our school history books. The Indians always seem to be larking just over our Hills with their inherent rights and treaty talk.
Since when has Kristi ever cared about affordable housing? Republicans like to blame the affordable housing crisis on zoning regulations. As if real estate developers are going to have a change of heart and lower pricing with ‘state mandates.’ Nope, I don’t buy it.
Kristi is getting pressure from her wealthy real estate friends to deregulate so they can make more money. That is all this is.
COVID Kristi has her head up her keester again. mfi mentioned the gypsum mine housing disaster. Without zoning, she’ll allow homes to be built in flood plains, over trash dumps, next to or on top of brownfield sites — you name it. How about houses built a couple feet between them? I’ll bet it won’t lower housing costs one nickel. What’s driving up house costs are skyrocketing wood and materials prices, the cost of labor and competing home values. And competition from other homes on the market.
Now, how many real estate agents do you know who’ll encourage their clients to accept the lowest bid on their house? This is a rabbit hole debate invitation with idiots. COVID Kristi is the idiot-in-chief.