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Minnesota Housing News
Melissa Olson

St. Paul City Council considers eliminating single-family-only zoning

A house for sale in St. Paul.
A house for sale in St. Paul in 2017. A majority of St. Paul residents who spoke at a public hearing Wednesday on proposed changes to the city’s zoning ordinance supported doing away with single-family-only zoning.
Tom Baker for MPR News file

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A majority of St. Paul residents who spoke at a public hearing Wednesday on proposed changes to the city’s zoning ordinance supported doing away with single-family-only zoning.

The St. Paul City Council is considering an overhaul of its residential zoning ordinance. Just before the public hearing began, city staff briefed council members on the proposed changes, summarizing a lengthy memo from the city’s Planning and Economic Development department. City planners said the proposed changes would create much-needed affordable housing throughout the city by allowing greater density and access to public transportation.

More than a dozen St. Paul residents spoke in favor of the proposed changes.

Supporters like Ann Schulman said changing the city's zoning ordinance would create more housing and stabilize prices, which would then make it easier for people to become homeowners.

“It allows homeowners to become property managers and landlords, and creates a whole bunch of low-cost opportunities for new growth, for apartments and rooms to rent, without needing to purchase additional land with great overhead,” said Schulman. “Housing equity is a huge part of racial justice because of the appalling record in this city and this nation regarding redlining and [racial] covenants.”

Resident Paige Kahle is a renter and said the changes would allow for opportunities at homeownership for those who have typically not been able to afford a home. She supports eliminating single-family-only zoning.

“Not everyone can afford to buy or rent a single-family house with a yard,” said Kahle. “But on most residential streets in St. Paul, especially in its wealthiest areas, this is the only type of home that is legal to build. In effect, this rule is exclusionary. It makes it impossible for anyone except the wealthy to afford to live in certain parts of our city.”

Only two people who spoke at Wednesday’s hearing opposed the proposed changes.

Resident Gaius Nelson said he worries that prospective first-time homebuyers who bid on starter homes could lose out to developers who want to tear them down for new, denser development.

“Please ask yourselves if you can explain why it’s reasonable that this 538-page technical document was passed without significant public outreach?” said Nelson. “Why neighbors near college campuses must live next to six housing units, each containing four bedrooms rented individually to a college student, and why residents anywhere in the city must endure traffic from four short-term rental units in a fourplex that provides no off-street parking.”

The St. Paul City Council is expected to vote on the proposed changes next week.