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Joseph M. Schilling

Joseph M. Schilling is Associate Director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, where he leads the Institute's Sustainable Communities Initiave. He is also a research professor at Virginia Tech.

Environmental Regulations and Housing Costs

Environmental Regulations and Housing Costs

Many communities across the nation still lack affordable housing. And many officials continue to claim that “affordable housing” is an oxymoron. Building inexpensively is impossible, they say, because there are too many regulations. Required environmental impact statements and habitat protection laws, they contend, drive up the costs of construction. But is this actually true?