PRE-APPROVED HOUSING PLANS A Strategic Path for the Future of Affordable Housing
The Detroit Case Study – Fall 2025
WRITTEN BY
Jasmine Farhat and Lauryn Thomas
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The United States faces a severe housing shortage, compounded by affordability challenges, rising costs, population shifts, and a legacy of vacant properties. Pre- approved housing plans—standardized architectural designs vetted in advance for compliance with zoning and building codes—offer a powerful tool to accelerate construction, reduce costs, and support equitable redevelopment.
This white paper presents findings from the Detroit Justice Center’s National Survey of Planning Professionals , highlights case studies from across the country, and analyzes the unique context of Detroit’s housing ecosystem. The research reveals clear benefits but also important risks, particularly around gentrification, implementation complexity, and longterm impact uncertainty.
Key Takeaways:
• Time Savings: 61% of cities reported saving more than one month on permitting.
• Cost Reduction: Some cities reported savings of $10,000 per unit.
• Challenges: Political sustainability, equitable access, and displacement risks
We recommend a phased, community-centered approach for municipalities implementing such programs, tied to measurable anti-displacement policies, capacity-building for residents, and robust data collection.
INTRODUCTION
The national housing crisis has grown acute. In Q1 2025, 83% of U.S. metro areas saw home price increases, with a national median of $402,300. The National Association of Home Builders estimates a shortage of 1.5 million units nationwide. In Michigan, housing prices have climbed more than 160% since 2011.
Detroit is an extreme case: nearly 60,000 vacant parcels are held by the Detroit Land Bank Authority, yet the city still faces affordability pressures. Structural forces—industrial decline, population loss, redlining, and top-down urban renewal—have fragmented the city’s housing ecosystem. While many efforts focus on subsidies and incentives, strategies that cut costs and streamline processes remain underexplored. Pre-approved housing plans offer a promising, if underutilized, intervention.
Understanding Pre-Approved
Housing Plans
Pre-approved housing plans are designs that have already been reviewed and approved by municipal authorities for compliance with local building codes, zoning requirements, and design standards. Unlike traditional housing projects where each proposal must undergo a unique, lengthy and often duplicative review, pre- approved plans are “shovel ready.” Once a plan is selected, builders and homeowners can move directly into permitting and construction, avoiding duplicative reviews and delays. Pre-approved plans are also designed to fit within a community’s existing regulatory environment and neighborhood character. They often include multiple housing typologies, such as accessory dwelling units (ADUs), single-family homes, duplexes, and townhomes—ensuring flexibility across diverse community needs.
Case Study Examples
• Kalamazoo, MI: Coupled zoning reform with a catalog of pre-approved plans, spurring infill housing.
• Ecorse, MI: Estimated $10,000 per home in savings.
• Yavapai County, AZ: Saved $10,800 per unit while improving environmental compliance.
• Lahaina, HI: Post-wildfire recovery accelerated by modular pre-approved plans.
These examples demonstrate adaptability across both emergency recovery and longterm redevelopment.
National Survey Results
To better understand the current landscape, DJC’s Economic Equity Practice conducted a national survey which was distributed to municipal planning departments, regional housing organizations, and professional associations in July 2025. 57 responses were received, representing jurisdictions of varying sizes across the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest. Respondents included city planners, architects, permitting officials, and development administrators. While not exhaustive, the dataset reflects a diverse cross-section of perspectives. Responses came from a mix of metropolitan and smaller jurisdictions, with stronger representation from the Midwest and Southeast. Self-reported data on time/ cost savings, which may vary by local context. Still, the responses reveal meaningful national trends, common challenges, and points of consensus on pre-approved housing plans.
Key Findings:
Conclusion:
Pre-approved plans are more than theoretical—they are producing real, measurable impacts across diverse contexts.
Benefits and Opportunities
The evidence base shows several categories of benefits:
1. Process Efficiency – Faster permitting reduces developer carrying costs and accelerates occupancy.
2. Cost Reduction – Savings on design, review, and compliance lower barriers for small developers and homebuyers.
3. Environmental Gains – Modular pre-approved designs reduce construction waste by up to 42%.
4. Community Acceptance – Locally tailored catalogs improve public perception and reduce NIMBY resistance.
"Our problem was that a lot of our existing rules and processes are pretty confusing and cumbersome...another problem is that we have a pretty rigid zoning review process that makes a lot of people in our town not want to build or get permits to build because they are afraid they'll get dinged for being out of compliance with newer zoning codes."
- Clare Ross (Anchorage Planning)
For Detroit, these benefits align with urgent needs: reactivating vacant lots, lowering barriers for small-scale developers, and encouraging ownership.
Other Findings
Architectural Considerations:
Survey respondents cited numerous ways to offer architecturally varied homes under pre-approved plans. Examples include:
• Kalamazoo, Michigan offers seven different designs ranging from duplexes to quadplexes, that consider the characteristics of their existing neighborhoods.
• In Fayetteville, Arkansas, the city is planning to offer 34 design including townhouses, duplexes, cottages, single-family homes, and garage apartments.
Do your design plans consider existing neighborhood elements?
Over half of the respondents reported active measures to ensure pre-approved plans complement the aesthetic and structural qualities of neighborhoods.
Modular Housing Synergy:
Have you considered modular housing in your plans? Yes, we have modular options
Modular housing residential units are manufactured in controlled factory environments and assembled on-site. The efficiency gains compound when modular housing and pre-approved plans are implemented together. While pre-approved plans reduce permitting timelines by 1+ months, modular construction can cut on- site build time by 30-50%. Combined, these approaches could reduce Detroit's typical 12-18 month development timeline to as little as 6-8 months, dramatically improving project economics and reducing carrying costs that often make development infeasible in weaker market areas.
Critical Implementation Challenges
• Gentrification Risk – The Efficiency Paradox: The very efficiency that makes pre-approved plans attractive can accelerate speculative development. Large developers with access to capital can outpace individual residents, leading to displacement and inequitable outcomes.
• Implementation Complexity: Pre-approved housing programs require cross-departmental coordination across planning, zoning, building, housing, and community agencies. Infrastructure deficits and limited homeowner capacity further complicate roll-out. Long-Term community engagement, and technological infrastructure.
• Evidence Gaps: Existing evaluations focus on process metrics (time, cost), not community outcomes like displacement or wealth building. Detroit is proactively developiong an infrastructure to evaluate and eventually implement a pre-approved housing program and should design evaluation frameworks from the outset.
Detroit-Specific Analysis and Recommendations
Detroit’s unique context presents both extraordinary opportunities and significant challenges.
Opportunities:
• 60,000+/- Land Bank parcels ripe for redevelopment.
• $4.275M HUD PRO-housing grant including support for a pre-approved plan program.
• Housing stock is 73% single-family, aligning with typical plan typologies.
• Strong cultural emphasis on homeownership.
Challenges:
• Area Median Income (AMI) distortions overstate affordability.
• Property tax spikes risk displacing homeowners.
• Weak-market neighborhoods remain unattractive to private capital.
• Historical skepticism toward top-down planning requires careful trust-building.
Strategic Recommendations
An overall template for use in Detroit and more broadly as a template for other municipalities can include the following:
Phase I: Initial Implementation (0–90 Days)
Establishment of an inter-agency task force to coordinate efforts across municipal departments and stakeholder organizations. Concurrent activities include the collection of baseline neighborhood data to establish performance metrics and the initiation of resident engagement sessions to ensure community input informs policy development. During this period, anti-gentrification policies will be drafted to provide the regulatory framework for subsequent implementation phases.
Phase II: Program Development (6-12 Months)
Operationalizing key program components through the pilot implementation of the pre-approved plan program. Capacity building supports will be deployed to strengthen community organizations and resident participation in development processes. Continuous evaluation of early outcomes will be conducted to assess program effectiveness and inform necessary adjustments to implementation strategies.
Phase III: Long-Term Objectives (3–5 Years)
The program's ultimate objectives include achieving measurable improvements in housing affordability while preventing resident displacement. Success will establish a replicable model for . cities addressing similar urban development challenges. The resulting evidence base will contribute to federal policy discussions on equitable development practices.
Critical Success Factor
Pre-approved housing plans represent one component of a comprehensive approach to equitable development. Program success is contingent upon a sustained commitment to community self-determination and equitable development principles, ensuring that resident priorities guide neighborhood transformation efforts.
Financing and Sustainability
A resilient program requires diversified funding streams:
• Federal: HUD grants and future infrastructure funding.
• Local: Tax abatements and property tax increment capture.
• Private: CDFIs and philanthropy partnerships.
A revolving loan fund could ensure long-term program continuity while tying affordability protections to funding sources.
Conclusion and Call to Action
Detroit stands at a strategy inflection point with an opportunity to address affordable housing challenges. With vast vacant land and new federal support, the city can pioneer an equitable approach to pre-approved housing plans that strengthens neighborhoods accelerates neighborhood development without displacing residents. Achieving this vision requires careful planning, Success will depend on sustained community partnership, robust safeguards, and a commitment to equity-driven planning.
Pre-approved housing plans are not a silver bullet—but they can be a powerful part of a broader strategy to build a more just and equitable city.
REFERENCES
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City of Detroit. (2025b, January 3). Chapter 2 Affordable Housing. Roadmap to Recovery. https://playbook.detroitmi.gov/ articles/chapter-2-affordable-housing
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