Housing expert urges code changes, local financing and 'incremental developers' to restore starter-home supply

Chuck Marone, author of Escaping the Housing Trap, told a joint Wichita–Sedgwick County en banc that U.S. housing has been reshaped from a locally financed good into a nationally traded financial product — a shift that, he said, has left a capital gap at the entry level of the market.

"We have created a development pattern that is really, really, really good at generating transactions," Marone said, arguing that securitization and large-scale suburban products capture most capital while starter homes and accessory units get neglected. He traced the change to post-World War II federal programs and later financialization that made housing more responsive to macroeconomic finance than to local supply and demand.

Marone urged three local priorities: regulatory reform to legalize backyard cottages and allow duplexes in more zones; convening and training "incremental developers" — small-scale local builders who can fill in neighborhoods; and targeted local financing (tax increment financing or special assessments) to lower upfront costs for buyers without saddling governments with long-term losses. "If we focus on the entry level stuff, there are a lot of ways for us to use tools like tax increment financing ... to be the market maker," he said.

Speakers in the room pushed for next steps: city and county staff were asked to brief elected leaders on existing tools (land bank, RHID) and to plan code-reform workshops. The bodies agreed to accept the presentation for the record.

Marone’s talk provided both historical context and practical examples: he pointed to Muskegon, Mich., for a TIF-based down-payment model and to South Bend’s convenings as a template for nurturing small developers. Wichita and Sedgwick County officials said they would explore convenings and policy changes to stimulate starter-unit production.