Introduction

Our report, Homes for Young Families: A Pro-family Housing Agenda, highlights one set of policies that imperil housing affordability: urban growth boundaries. UGBs are rules or policies setting hard limits about where land can be developed, with development beyond those limits requiring hard-to-get special exemptions or permissions. In some areas, UGBs are impenetrable barriers, while in others they simply increase development cost and restrict how much housing can be built on undeveloped land. This fact sheet explores UGBs.