The biggest impediment to housing supply is local control of zoning combined with intense preferences of a small group can disrupt new housing The best way to overcome this? Provide a modest 💸 incentive for all residents to prefer 🏠 at the margin

The federal government could remove housing tax benefits for places which restrict new 🏠too much (Gated cities) These benefits include the mortgage interest and property tax deductions, and exclusion of capital gains -- and could apply to all 🏠 (owned and rented)

But my policy would not simply penalize Gated cities It would take the generated tax savings and transfer them to Opportunity cities -- nearby places that do generate housing for new residents The policy leverages billions of new💸 to ⬆️housing without ⬆️ the federal budget

There is a sound rationale here: --> Local govt retain control of zoning, just with a check in minimum output --> The US is growing. If cities decide they no longer want more residents, they shift this responsibility onto other cities. This policy helps fund that duty.

The policy also has precedent and is modeled (in reverse) on the idea of Opportunity Zones -- which offer preferential business tax treatment to distressed places.

This policy helps give a voice to the people not currently represented in our housing policy: internal migrants -- people who want to move to an area, but can't because it is too expensive By encouraging a minimal level of growth, this policy helps recognize their value

A difficulty in policy implementation is how exactly to identify which cites are "Gated" and which are "Opportunity" The best way (IMO) to identify artificial housing reduction - Gated cities - is places with a combination of high prices and low housing growth (using the ACS)