Ann Arbor has about 94,000 workers and 53,000 students competing for 53,000 homes. About 76,000 people commute into the city for work. (Sources: UM fall 2024 enrollment statistics and 2021 onthemap.com numbers.) The result is higher–and higher rents and prices. This is no surprise to anyone who has tried to buy or rent a home in Ann Arbor recently. A few have tried to argue that we don’t need new housing because our population isn’t increasing very quickly. It’s true that our population has been relatively flat. But that’s a bit like arguing that your 100-seat theater doesn’t need new seats because you’ve never had more than a 100 people in your audience; population on its own is not a good measure of demand.

According to 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) data, 54.5% of the population of Ann Arbor are renters. https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2023/02/these-31-michigan-cities-have-more-renters-than-homeowners.html(https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2023/02/these-31-michigan-cities-have-more-renters-than-homeowners.html)

The University of Michigan is its own independent entity under the State Constitution, and the City of Ann Arbor cannot force it to do anything. However, we can make it easier or harder for university employees and students to find housing near campus. It’s important to note that when the UM builds housing, that housing doesn’t contribute to the City’s tax base. When private developers build housing–even for students–these buildings contribute a significant amount of property tax revenue that supports our roads, transit, Affordable Housing Fund, and other services.

No. Ending single-family zoning (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-family_zoning)means allowing a wider variety of housing types than just detached homes. For example, Ann Arbor’s new Comprehensive Land Use Plan includes a Residential category that covers many areas that are currently zoned for only single-family housing. The plan suggests that duplexes, triplexes, small apartment buildings, and neighborhood stores should also be allowed in these areas along with single-family homes.

No. In theory, a new zoning map could *allow* those things to happen over time. (It could not, however, force them to happen; somebody still has to be willing to build the high-rise on their property.) The Comprehensive Land Use Plan recommends that neighborhoods currently zoned for residential housing allow “missing middle housing,” which is generally a similar scale to the housing that already exists. Under our current zoning, residential neighborhoods allow up to three stories. Currently, high rises are permitted only in the downtown and along major roads (parts of Plymouth, Washtenaw, Stadium, State, etc.). Smaller buildings like duplexes, triplexes or townhomes are currently not allowed in most of our residential neighborhoods. The Comprehensive Land Use Plan suggests continuing to allow high-rise buildings in downtown and arterials as well as in parts of a new "Transition" district that surrounds the downtown. This means that over the next 20-25 years, we can allow more people to be able to buy or rent a home in Ann Arbor. Land use change is incremental. For example, the City legalized ADUs in 2018, and now that they are legal, Planning reports that there have been 5-7 requests for ADU permits each year. The ADU experience is a good illustration of how allowing a building type does not mean that the City will experience a lot of change all at once.

Ann Arbor does build publicly owned affordable housing, and the City has a dedicated affordable housing millage (https://www.a2gov.org/housing-commission/affordable-housing-millage/)to help fund it. Reforming zoning policies to allow more market-rate development will expand the City’s tax base, allowing the City to build more subsidized affordable housing. In addition to growing the tax base, zoning reform supports subsidized affordable housing in several other ways: 1. The Ann Arbor Housing Commission’s projects often require zoning changes. For example, the Commission had to file a rezoning request (https://a2gov.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?GUID=1EA934B5-DB88-4AE8-AF42-EDC6E6303D99&ID=5465054)for the 350 S. Fifth (https://www.a2gov.org/housing-commission/development-of-city-owned-properties-as-affordable-housing/350-s-fifth-ave/)project. Proactive zoning reform would allow more affordable housing projects to move forward without case-by-case rezonings. 1. Private nonprofit housing organizations like the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust (https://www.a2clt.org/)and Avalon Housing (https://avalonhousing.org/our-homes/)are constrained by the same zoning rules as for-profit developers. Reforming zoning rules would make it easier for these organizations to build new affordable housing. 1. The Ann Arbor Housing Commission offers 2,345 rental assistance vouchers (https://www.a2gov.org/media/ba2ecxao/aahc-dunbar-waiting-list-presentation.pdf)that help low-income households pay rent. Because each voucher covers part of a tenant’s rent, the same funding will help more households if market rents stay flat or fall rather than rise. While publicly owned affordable housing is an important tool, it makes up only a small portion of the total housing market. Ann Arbor has 627 apartments in Housing Commission properties,(https://www.a2gov.org/media/ba2ecxao/aahc-dunbar-waiting-list-presentation.pdf) which constitute only about 1.2% of the city’s 54,387 housing units.(https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs1?get=NAME,B25001_001E&for=place:03000&in=state:26) The city is building more subsidized affordable housing, but there is not nearly enough funding to end the housing shortage with publicly subsidized housing alone. Using the roughly $7 million per year (https://www.a2gov.org/media/bpjpa2wl/final-5yr-annual-and-mtw-plan-approved-41725.pdf)affordable housing millage, the City hopes to create about 1,500 affordable units over 20 years,(https://www.a2gov.org/housing-commission/affordable-housing-millage/) or roughly 75 units per year, which equals only about 0.14% of Ann Arbor’s 54,387 housing units. For the foreseeable future, the vast majority of residents will have to find their housing on the private market. And even if the city greatly expanded its supply of public housing, many people would still want to own their home or rent an apartment without dealing with a waitlist or means testing. Publicly owned affordable housing is not a replacement for zoning reform–it’s a complementary strategy.

It always costs more to live in new construction. The new housing will be expensive. But that's okay--it still increases the number of homes, which frees up older housing units for everyone else. Research has repeatedly shown that new housing supply — even expensive new housing — makes other homes more affordable (https://www.upjohn.org/research-highlights/new-construction-makes-homes-more-affordable-even-those-who-cant-afford-new-units)because it soaks up the new demand. And smaller units (duplexes, townhomes, cottage courts, etc.) are less expensive than large single-family homes and house more people in the same amount of space.

Zoning regulates use, not ownership, so there is nothing stopping private equity companies from buying up single-family homes in Ann Arbor now. If there are more homes, it will be harder for any company to buy a large percentage of them.

We love our neighborhoods too. Ann Arbor is a delightful place to live. Whether or not we change our zoning policies, Ann Arbor will continue to change. We believe that allowing smaller homes in compact arrangements will lead to positive changes, like lower housing costs, while continuing to forbid these homes will cause negative changes, like higher costs and more commuter traffic. Currently, when a property owner demolishes a single-family home, it's often replaced with a larger "bigfoot" home–still designed for just one family. Ann Arbor’s new Comprehensive Land Use Plan proposes allowing someone to build a duplex or a triplex, or maybe a couple of smaller homes, instead. These smaller homes are more affordable and sustainable than a bigger home–and they allow several families to enjoy the neighborhood instead of just one! Allowing more people to enjoy our neighborhoods is a win-win.

A few have tried to argue that we don’t need much new housing because Ann Arbor’s population isn’t increasing very quickly. But that’s like arguing a 100-seat theater doesn’t need new seats because there’s never been more than 100 people in the audience; population on its own is not a good measure of demand.

The C(https://a2compplan-a2-mi.hub.arcgis.com/?link_id=2&can_id=1ddf1e881e2701b0e8c4388ac1ad7b65&source=email-ann-arbors-comprehensive-plan-is-still-taking-shapeheres-what-you-need-to-know&email_referrer=&email_subject=ann-arbors-comprehensive-plan-is-still-taking-shape-heres-what-you-need-to-know&&)omprehensive Plan (https://a2compplan-a2-mi.hub.arcgis.com/?link_id=2&can_id=1ddf1e881e2701b0e8c4388ac1ad7b65&source=email-ann-arbors-comprehensive-plan-is-still-taking-shapeheres-what-you-need-to-know&email_referrer=&email_subject=ann-arbors-comprehensive-plan-is-still-taking-shape-heres-what-you-need-to-know&&)is a high-level policy document, required by State law, that shapes the city's future vision and priorities to guide development up to the year 2050. The plan includes decisions on land use policy and spending priorities for public projects over a 20- to 30-year horizon. The plan was passed in March, 2026 and is available at https://engage.a2gov.org/comprehensive-land-use-plan.(https://engage.a2gov.org/comprehensive-land-use-plan) It’s not a difficult technical document; it's highly readable and includes a lot of good background explanation.