The State of Colorado defines regulatory barriers to affordable housing development as an action that "prohibits or discourages the construction of affordable housing without sound reason…or procedure that excessively increases the cost of new rehabilitated housing, either by improperly restricting the location of housing, or by imposing unjustified restrictions on housing development with little or no demonstrated compensating benefit" (2000).
In August 2002, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI) conducted a survey of developers and homebuilders in northeastern Illinois. Survey results are illustrative at best (Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, 2003); nonetheless, the results paint a distressing picture. The vast majority of those surveyed believe that there are local regulatory barriers that make the development of affordable housing difficult (BPI, 2003). They cite the length of the approval process, large minimum lot-size requirements, lower density requirements, and lack of land zoned for multi-family housing as the top four issues that prove to be significant barriers to developing affordable housing in northeastern Illinois (BPI, 2003).
To learn more about regulatory barriers and housing affordability in the region, please click here to read the strategy report.