On the business and real estate pages of nearly every metropolitan newspaper in the country are articles addressing the shortage of affordable housing. The word "affordable" conjures up so many negative concepts in many peoples' minds, however, that it is often dismissed by homeowners as news about the plights of the disadvantaged, and not people who have jobs, families, and futures.

Builders, clamoring to answer the need for multi-family housing, have been consistently slapped down in their efforts by NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) types in many growing areas. These naysayers, based on their experiences in years past, oftentimes cry wolf about the perceived crime, traffic, noise and expected surrounding property de-valuation that can accompany the building of multi-family projects. In some cases, their concerns are well founded, and in others, fear of the unknown is hard at work.

Many cities, such as Sacramento, CA, are taking steps to get a handle on the rental stereotypes created in homeowners' minds by making hard and fast rules about how multifamily and condominium projects are located and designed. According to a recent report in the Sacramento Bee, legitimate concerns are now being addressed in creating new rules for multi-family development designs, and new guidelines are being adopted by the local city council there. The adoption of uniform, stricter guidelines for multi-family designs in general are vital to both urban and suburban areas that are finally beginning to take the vocal concerns single-family homeowners are expressing seriously.

Although the adoption of strict guidelines by any city or area are not meant to inhibit growth or deny multifamily project approvals, it can be a tool to encourage developers to adhere to specific site-planning and architectural criteria, resulting in the better multifamily development in areas with the appropriate zoning. Softening the impact of the inevitable is also an important goal of multi-family builders these days, when homeowners want and need input on the future of their areas. Making detailed plans available to the public ahead of time helps ease this process.

Keeping multifamily projects unobtrusive:

The correction of design "sins" of the past when planning multifamily developments is at the top of the list of changes that can be made. This includes keeping parking lots tucked away, making them invisible to nearby public streets. It also means making multifamily architecture design-compatible with surrounding single-family homes not only style wise, but height-wise as well. Due to the many unregulated multi-family designs of the 60s and 70s, one of the NIMBYs' biggest general complaints is the failure of apartment and condo projects to blend with the neighborhood. Builders during decades past tried to save time and money by designing towering buildings and invoking modernism wherever possible, invoking the wrath of residents who justifiably were concerned about the streetscapes of their neighborhoods.

Flipping Orientations

Apartment buildings of the past were routinely turned inward, showing their windowless, uninteresting posteriors to passers-by, oftentimes resembling prison enclaves. Newer designs encourage builders to orient apartments to adjoining streets, so that balconies, windows, patios and entryways are visible, thereby becoming more pedestrian-friendly. When these more attractive and visible facades match the surrounding designs of the single-family homes nearby, the blend seems to ease the fears of permanent residents.

Routing Traffic off main thoroughfares

The idea of multifamily communities creating more traffic, congestion and noise is sometimes directly linked to the automobile access residents there are relegated to. A single main gate or entry to an apartment complex facing a major street can be a culprit. Many newer projects include several inroads for residents, distributing the traffic closer to where each resident will ultimately park their cars. Quiet, modular-access areas within larger complexes also add to the feeling of more intimacy for its occupants, making it a winning proposition all around.

No secrets from residents and future residents

When residents are given a chance to review the designs, their fears of the unknown ease considerably. During my years in new home sales, I recall one single-family new home neighborhood for which I made it a point to call the apartment developer for a set of approved blueprints for the nearby apartment-complex-to-be for potential home buyers to review. My prospects were able to see exterior elevations (each cluster of apartments looked more like a mansion than six or eight units in one building). They were also able to see the floor plans of the different units, showing how and where the units would overlook the single-family homes around them. Because I helped to lessen the fears of potential residents early on, the apartments were not a negative factor in the sale of the new home community itself.

Dispelling negative images of renters

Many renters today are there by choice, with the changing fabric of American life lending more reasons than ever to live without the restraints and maintenance of perennial homeownership. To singles, newlyweds, college students, relocating employees, newly single-parented households and retirees who seek a less tethered lifestyle, apartment and condo rental living offers either a temporary or semi-permanent home. Affordability for multifamily housing is the goal of many builders, but even higher-rent areas are faced with the wrath and preconceived opinions of single family homeowners. Better planned and architecturally superior multifamily units will no doubt go a long way to eroding many of the myths held by the more affluent or more permanent residents of any neighborhood. And, although NIMBY "us and them" sentiments may not disappear for many other reasons that are not as easily addressed here, city and suburban planning offices nationwide are at last paying close attention to their cries. Offering more attractive alternatives to the high-rise, impersonal, and badly designed multifamily enclaves of the past will no doubt go a long way in this regard.

Published: August 30, 2000

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.