Harper Belmont Media interviewed Douglas Newby for a documentary they were doing on short-term rentals (STRs). Here are 20 video clips taken from that interview where I am discussing additional dwelling units (ADUs) and STRs and what happens when density is added to single-family zoned neighborhoods. Included in the conversation are the reasons why adding density lowers the property values in a single-family zoned neighborhood and also why reducing density increases property values in a neighborhood. When STRs originally became a threat to neighborhoods, few realized that STRs were just the tip of the spear trying to pierce the protection of single-family zoning for homeowners.
Added Density Is a Disease, Munger Place Homes Lost 30% Of Their Value Over 70 Years
A STR Next Door Causes an Immediate Decline in Value – Much Greater Decline Overtime
Also discussed in these 20 video clips are the economics and the reasons for the positive effects of single-family zoning and the negative impact of adding density to thriving neighborhoods. You will hear a case study about architecturally significant homes in the Munger Place, Peak Suburban, and Junius Heights Historic Districts in Old East Dallas, where single family rezoning created one billion dollars of value in a 100-block area. Also, you will hear why Highland Park land is worth more per acre than land in downtown Dallas.
There is an ideological top-down push from most city planners and many politicians to change the use of existing single-family zoned Dallas neighborhoods to denser housing types that deforest and destabilize neighborhoods. Adding density to single-family zoned neighborhoods is tantamount to infecting them with a disease that might take decades to recover from. Currently, the Dallas City Manager and Dallas Planning Department are preparing the ForwardDallas Plan that eradicates single-family zoning, and through a point system determines how much new density and uses can be inserted in each specific neighborhood. Homeowners and neighborhood desires have historically been sacrosanct. Now the City Manager and some City Councilmembers want permission to zone how they please in each neighborhood. Thank you for your interest in protecting and nurturing our neighborhoods – Douglas Newby