Today’s blog post is written by Mori Kurland, a rising sophomore at the University of Tulsa. Mori’s research this summer focuses on studying obstacles to building affordable housing in Tulsa, with a focus on zoning, financing, and insurance coverage. In this research, he is also exploring the feasibility of alternative housing typologies in Tulsa.
Mark your calendars for the final presentation of the TURC Housing Policy Research team on August 8th from 11:30am-1pm. You are invited to join us for a lunch and learn event as the students showcase their research findings in Helmerich Hall, Room 219 (2900 E 5th Street). Please RSVP so that we have an accurate count for lunch: https://pp.events/bVQqqkXj
Obstacles to Affordable and Alternative Housing Development in Tulsa
by Mori Kurland
The Big Picture Painted in Pixels
With dozens of zoning types, character designations, and various districts governing land use in Tulsa, it is no secret that real estate developers grapple with a complex web of regulations when deciding what to build in our community. But zoning issues here are greater than complexity. Unfortunately, while our city is in dire need of more housing, and especially more affordable housing, land zoned for any kind of multifamily use, including townhouses, cottage communities, apartments, condominiums, and manufactured housing, is incredibly limited, as shown in the map below, which illustrates where multifamily housing is automatically (or “by -right”) allowed in Tulsa. Obviously, while land without multifamily capacity is abundant, finding space to put dense, affordable housing is more challenging, a finding corroborated by the January 2025 City of Tulsa Smart Growth Report, prepared by Smart Growth America, Housing Forward, and The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation.
The Elephant in the 3D-Printed Room
Assuming suitable land can be purchased and appropriately zoned, the next question becomes exactly what to do with it. Apart from typical options for affordable housing, like traditionally constructed apartments, recent advances in construction technology have created vast new opportunities in the realm of alternative housing. Options like kit homes, tiny homes, modular homes, container homes, cob homes, and even 3D-printed homes are emerging as faster, cheaper, more sustainable alternatives to traditional stick-built housing, so they are simultaneously giving budget-minded consumers potentially better options. However, while financing and insuring a conventional home is often a painless process, doing so for a more unusual residence can be difficult.
It’s the Hard-Knock Life for Us (to Get Insurance and a Mortgage)
In researching almost twenty different types of alternative housing, two critical recurring issues quickly became apparent: difficulty acquiring both a mortgage and homeowners’ insurance coverage. Without the necessary resources to buy and protect a house, homebuyers and developers can be effectively barred from potentially better, cheaper housing, even without explicit barriers in the regulatory landscape. Aside from a cumbersome legislative process aimed at forcing lenders and insurance agencies to support new building styles, the best way to overcome this obstacle seems to be speaking directly to the people who have control over decision making at a local level to see what their concerns are and how open they are to changing any problematic policies they have.
Follow the Adobe Brick Road
With so many challenges to the innovative housing agenda Tulsa needs, what comes next? Well, as difficult as the situation may sound, there is a clear path forward, and it has two prongs. The first is to continue meeting with nonprofit housing advocates and city planning officials to find ways to blend forward-thinking recommendations with governmental hesitancy. The second is to directly reach out to local insurance agents and bank representatives. According to data from the Oklahoma Insurance Department, almost three-quarters of Oklahoma’s homeowners’ insurance market is controlled by ten companies.
Furthermore, the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency has designated almost thirty individual Diamond Award winning mortgage lenders in Tulsa and surrounding counties. By speaking to members of all of these companies, progress can be made in the private sector, along with the public sector.