Bench & Bar September/October 2025

A number of strategies have been developed to increase the supply of housing, all of which require recon ceptualizing local zoning, including:

The housing shortage in Kentucky and across the U.S. writ large is attributed to a complex of factors, including: • Destruction of homes by nat ural disasters; • Heightened financial stress on homeowners and land lords; • Inflationary pressures on building materials;

The old-old testament law on zoning is a U.S. Supreme Court case from the 1920s that upheld a local zoning ordinance against a challenge from an industrial developer. Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. (1926) 272 U.S. 365, 47 S.Ct.114, 71 L.Ed. 303. EUCLIDEAN ZONING FAVORS SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLINGS Zoning schemes separating development by uses came to be known as Euclidean zoning. Nothing in planning and zoning is immutable given the proper level of polit ical and economic pressure, but a central fact of zoning codes is the detached sin gle-family housing enclave, with no other uses allowed – R-1 zones in the planner’s

• Enabling development of Alternative Dwelling Units (ADUs); • Legalizing multi-family dwellings in commercial areas, especially along public transit lines; • Building code reform; • Easing parking require ments; • Enabling home sharing; • Simplifying office to res idential conversions. 8

• The rise in home prices far outstripping income growth; • Higher interest rates; • Increasing property taxes and insurance costs; • The steadily decline in the birth rate since 1950, leading to smaller families. 7

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