Jeffrey Miron
The Trump Administration recently weakened the Endangered Species Act.
A new paper suggests that, for advocates of increased housing development, these lessened restrictions could provide an opportunity.
The paper
examines how environmental land-use regulation under the ESA affects housing construction. The findings indicate that an additional endangered species listing reduced annual housing permits by … about 9–10 percent of the average annual permitting rate. … [A]pproximately 70 percent of the local permit decline represents housing that was deterred altogether rather than displaced.
After a new endangered species was added,
greenfield land was approximately 10 percent less likely to be converted into developed land. However, developed open space was also about 9–10 percent less likely to transition to more intensive use. … These patterns suggest that the ESA did not simply redirect construction away from sensitive undeveloped land and toward infill development.
All in all, the researcher suggests that
narrowing or simplifying ESA requirements for construction on already-developed land could increase housing supply without substantially weakening habitat protections.
Cross-posted from Substack.
