Costs of Subdivision Requirements a Regulatory Barrier?

Subdivision regulations are meant to ensure that proposed housing developments cost-effectively meet community health and safety requirements. Subdivisions regulations divide land into individual lots, and also establish public infrastructure, such as streets, sidewalks, and water & sewer. If these regulations are more restrictive and costly than necessary to achieve their objectives, they become barriers to affordable housing.

HUD’s Office of Policy Development & Research recently commissioned a nationwide study to determine if the cost of land and site development requirements on single-family detached housing built in subdivisions exceeds benchmarks recommended by experts in land and housing development. The study found that almost all communities have at least one requirement that exceeds what is necessary; the most common being excessive lot size. Nationwide, the study also found that land planning jurisdictions enforce larger lot size requirements, resulting in a regulatory cost of up to $12,000 per lot.

The report, the Study of Subdivision Requirements as a Regulatory Barrier, is available as a free download at www.huduser.org/publications/commdevl/subdiv_report.html. The reader can find additional information on subdivision requirements and other regulatory barriers to affordable housing through our Regulatory Barriers Clearinghouse at www.regbarriers.org.