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Q&A
How regulatory complexity hinders small and mid-size housing developers
1:26:20
·
82 sec
Commissioner Leila Bozorg asks Vishaan Chakrabarti why projects needing use/bulk changes face barriers, questioning if it's cost or other factors. Chakrabarti explains that the complexity and cost of processes like ULURP favor large developers, hindering smaller builders who could undertake mid-size projects if minor technical modifications could be approved more easily, perhaps via the existing minor modification process.
- Complex regulations and processes like ULURP create high barriers to entry.
- These barriers disproportionately affect small and mid-size builders.
- Large developers can afford the legal and lobbying costs associated with navigating complex approvals.
- Streamlining approvals for minor changes (use/bulk) could empower smaller builders.
Leila Bozorg
1:26:20
Is part of what you're you're saying that, like, the example you just gave, they'd have to go through a full scale.
1:26:26
Are you saying because of the size and scale that of of who they are and the type of builder that that's going through that is too costly, or what what becomes the barrier?
Vishaan Chakrabarti
1:26:35
Yeah.
1:26:35
Because so, again, I mean, I think the elephant in the room here is the development community.
1:26:40
Because when people talk about more housing, everyone talks about, well, then you're helping the real estate developers.
1:26:45
Right?
1:26:48
The thing is is that the more regulations we throw into the land use system, the more you're helping big real estate because only big real estate can afford the attorneys and the lobbyists and everyone else you need to get around those regulations.
1:27:02
And what we're hurting are all the small builders and the community scale builders who can build on the kinds of sites that we just talked about.
1:27:10
Right?
1:27:11
And so that's so and when you say so why do these things need to go through Euler?
1:27:15
Sometimes they don't have the density on the site.
1:27:17
Often, it's because there's some stupid rear yard regulation or some other thing that's a technicality in the zoning code that means that they need to go through a full Euler.
1:27:27
And that's I there is a minor mod process where it's left up to the discretion of the city planning chair, and I think we should be using that much more for these kinds of small scale sites because small builders cannot afford the process that we would have to put them through otherwise.