[Durham INC] another SCAD article

[tom miller]

There are more coming

 

About SCAD - Small Lots, Small Houses, and Accelerated Gentrification

 

This is the second of a number of short pieces pointing out problems with
SCAD.  This one will be devoted to SCAD's proposed changes to the rules for
the "Small Lot Option" adopted in 2019 as part of the Expanding Housing
Choices initiative.  The EHC changes allowed developers to subdivide a
standard residential lot into two, three, or maybe four small lots with new
small houses.  This called the small lot option.  Generally, SCAD would
allow developers to build much larger houses on small lots - increasing
their profitability, but defeating any arguable affordability benefit
attendant to this housing type.

 

What is SCAD?  It is a developer-proposed re-write of Durham's zoning code
called the Uniform Development Ordinance or "UDO."  The SCAD acronym was
coined by the developers to stand for "Simplified Codes for Affordable
Development."  Of course, this naming is strategic because it is meant to
make us think SCAD is about affordable housing.  While there are a couple of
things in SCAD that are directed to affordability, the vast majority of
SCAD's provisions have nothing to do with housing affordability.  Instead,
they are designed to make redevelopment of Durham more profitable for the
development community - usually at the expense of Durham's existing
residential communities.

 

SCAD is extremely complex.  Not only are hundreds of individual changes
proposed, the changes often work together to compound impacts.  This happens
in SCAD's treatment of the Small Lot Option.

 

Small Lots and Small Houses - The 2019 EHC rule changes allow a developer to
cut an existing lot up into smaller lots as long as the resulting lots are
no more than 2,000 sf in area and are not narrower than 25 feet.  The house
built on such a lot cannot be larger than 1,200 sf.  The virtue of the small
lot rules is that they incentivize the creation of small, market-entry
housing and we need more of this housing in our inventory.  Under North
Carolina law, we cannot fix the price of homes, but we can regulate home
sizes.  As the planning staff frequently said in support of the EHC, small
houses are generally less expensive than larger houses.  The 1,200 sf limit
in the current rules arguably lowers the bottom rung on the wealth ladder to
the point where some people might reach it.  Property developed under the
EHC has produced little in the way of truly affordable housing, but the
small lot rules have sparked considerable developer interest and have
resulted in quite a number of small houses across town.  

 

The downside of small lots and small houses has been accelerated
gentrification in lower- wealth, formerly redlined neighborhoods where
existing housing is the most affordable.  Development is a capitalist
venture.  Developers target the least expensive existing, "naturally
occurring"  housing for redevelopment.  The existing house is demolished to
make way for two or more 1,200 sf houses.  These newer homes are often
priced out of reach for the people who live in the neighborhoods where they
are being built.

 

SCAD will make the problem worse by allowing developers to build much
bigger, more expensive houses on the small lots.  Under the current rules, a
small house can have a garage, but its area must count as part of the 1,200
sf maximum.  Consequently, no garages have been built.  But under the
proposed SCAD rules, garages would not be included in the 1,200 sf.  Nor
would heated square footage that is "below grade."  Under the guidelines
adopted by the State of North Carolina for measuring residential square
footage, "below grade" means any area that has a portion of its floor level
below the ground level outside.  The effect of the proposed SCAD changes,
then, will be that the house which today must be relatively small will grow
to 2,000 sf and have a garage.  Additionally, the height limit for a small
house will go from 25 feet to two stories or 32 feet. This means that the
"below grade" living area can be mostly above ground. The lot will be small,
but the house on it can no longer pretend to be a market-entry home.  In a
stroke, SCAD will move the bottom rung of the wealth ladder up beyond the
reach of market entry purchasers and renters.  The larger houses will be
more expensive and more profitable.  They will be a more powerful engine for
gentrification and displacement in neighborhoods where existing homes are
the least expensive.  This will be a boon to the development industry, but
no consolation to most people in Durham. - certainly not to the people in
the neighborhoods targeted for this type of housing.  

 

 

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