REHOBOTH BEACH — Doug Motley, one of JLAM‘s managing principals, was recently interviewed on the First State Insight podcast. He spoke about how his background, the development work he has been involved with over the past two decades, and some of the recent changes he has observed in the housing industry.
Throughout the interview, Motley spoke about what housing issues are occurring in Delaware.
“From our [JLAM’s] perspective, a lot of the issue is on the supply side … A) We have a shortage of housing units period. That is an actionable thing, with the unit shortage somewhere between 4-7 million homes in the US, depending on which source you look at. In Delaware, it’s in the neighborhood of 18,000-20,000 from a shortage standpoint. We need more product, more supply, whether that’s people in a lower income level that need some subsidy to afford it, or everyday workers that are in the workforce that just need a place to live. We need to provide solutions that deliver more absolute number of units is important. B) There is a lot of homogeneity across the product type that’s actually out there. The number of single-family homes is staggering relative to other product types. Our land-use codes across the state, which is obviously a local jurisdiction, but they are not overly flexible in allowing different types of housing types, whether that be cottages, accessory dwelling units above a detached garage, town homes, or just more dense units, there is not a lot of flexibility for a developer to go after. In most cases, it requires either a conditional use or a change of zone, which, from a developer’s perspective can be a risky proposition particularly as certain anti-developer groups influence the elected officials more. You have local elected officials who are facing a vocal opposition to higher density solutions that address the affordability problem.”
Click here to listen to the podcast.