The government wants to streamline residential construction by creating a catalog of preapproved designs, but housing experts say it's not that simple and may have a limited effect.
In July, the Senate Banking Committee unanimously voted in favor of the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act. The ROAD Act contains 40 initiatives touching upon a variety of housing industry issues, including the shortage of affordable housing. One proposal calls for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create a grant program in which communities across the country can create a list of preapproved home designs.
The idea is that developers choosing these designs would encounter a streamlined approval and permitting process, but two housing experts — architect Ryan Starr of Starr Designs & Architecture in Oregon, Portland, and University of Michigan Professor Lan Deng — told Homes.com the idea is only part of the solution.
"It is a good thing for communities to offer this to speed up the design review process," Deng said, "but it itself is far from enough in addressing the housing supply problem. The barriers to housing production are multifaceted, such as financing, land availability, labor cost and so on. Without addressing the other challenges housing production faces, speeding up the review process may only have limited effects. I think the act proposes a comprehensive approach, which is hopeful."
To be sure, some properties are unique and require tailored designs. Starr said he sees this scenario emerge time and again with preapproved designs for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, in Bend and Springfield, Oregon. ADUs are typically smaller homes built on the same lot. The owners use them for relatives and guests, or they rent them out to pay the bills or for disposable income.
"You can't meet all the needs of the user and of the existing conditions of the property, because it was made in a vacuum," Starr said. "We have to know what the playing field is before we play our design game."
Starr said the designs can fail to be the perfect fit for a property given setback requirements from the main house or other situation-dependent details.
Still, Starr said a catalog of preapproved homes can contribute to boosting the housing supply if municipalities have favorable pro-development and density zoning requirements and financial assistance exists for land purchases and construction.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner declined to comment for this story. In July, Turner said the ROAD Act offers "thoughtful proposals to increase housing in Opportunity Zones, promote the value of manufactured housing and address the mountains of red tape."