Source: Niskanen Center
by Andrew Justus
“Despite unsteady economic winds, housing remains unaffordable in many parts of the country, with high soft costs — expenses for planning, zoning approvals, and engineering — bearing much of the blame. Recent efforts in Michigan and Ohio, however, aim to reduce these costs through statewide catalogs of preapproved building plans for homes and small multifamily buildings. These follow locally led efforts in places like South Bend, Indiana, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, which built out their own catalogs of preapproved residential buildings, enabling a growing number of homes built to be open to source specifications. Are these statewide plan catalogs the right approach to affordability? And is there a helpful federal role in all this?” (12/09/25)