Honor Jimmy Carter by fixing housing rules
On recency bias, Habitat for Humanity, and what city councils should do to honor the former President's life
The two Presidents to live the longest in post-Presidency were Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter. Hoover outlived John F. Kennedy, dying in 1964, 31 years after leaving the White House. Carter, having just passed, made it a remarkable 43 years.
■ Other than their longevity, both are remembered far better by history for what they did as humanitarians than for their time in the Oval Office. Hoover had the relative misfortune of making his humanitarian mark prior to the White House; Carter became known for his humanitarianism after leaving office, particularly for his dedication to Habitat for Humanity. Recency bias is real, and it favors doing good works after finishing the dirty job of President.
■ In honor of Jimmy Carter, every municipal government in America should affirmatively repeal one restrictive zoning ordinance or regulation that holds back the development of housing. The aggregate effect, if everyone were to do it, would be a worthy boon to affordable housing -- more valuable in total than any wave of housing that Habitat for Humanity could possibly build.
■ Housing built with volunteer labor can do good things at the margins, of course, but it simply cannot have an impact as large as framing the right legal and regulatory environment to encourage the construction, improvement, or redevelopment of safe, dignified, and affordable housing at a very large scale.
■ City councils and county supervisors, heed the moment: Legalize duplexes and extend tax advantages to four-plexes! We need more "missing middle" housing. Promote manufactured housing and let it qualify for conventional mortgage financing! Manufactured homes are better-built and much less costly than site-built houses, but they're hard for first-time buyers to get. Encourage the building of ADUs! California has gained tens of thousands of new homes by streamlining the process to let people build them statewide.
■ Local governments can pick just about anything to improve and they'll make people's lives better. That would be the most fitting possible tribute to former President Carter: Not to motivate thousands of Americans each to show up for one day of lending their low-skill labor to a worthy cause, but to improve the aggregate conditions for housing affordability for millions of people at once.
