Federal Housing Administration Still Tips the Scales Toward Sprawl

There's a notion that remains very pervasive in certain quarters -- *cough* Joel Kotkin *cough* -- that the reason so many American cities are sprawling and suburban is the natural result of market forces. Essentially, Americans love driving and big yards and so that's what we get.

But it's a mistake to characterize American housing markets as anywhere close to perfectly market based. The federal government subsidizes housing to the tune of $450 billion a year. The vast majority of that money is reserved for sprawling, suburban housing.

Mary Newsom at Network blog The Naked City carried this update from Governing Magazine. Even after the housing market collapse, the Federal Housing Administration is still promoting sprawl at the expense of, well, anything else. Here's how Governing's Scott Beyer sums up the situation:

Newsom notes that "the FHA has eased that rule a bit in the past two years" -- after persistent prodding, FHA relaxed restrictions against mixed-use buildings. The rules that remain, however, are still wildly unbalanced, Beyer says:

There's obviously a long way to go.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Bike Portland reports that a recent Oregonian column made light of "running over cyclists" -- always good for a laugh! Urban Review STL shares stories of gas stations that have been converted into restaurants. And now that Arlington's Columbia Pike is not getting a streetcar, Greater Greater Washington wonders what's next.