In recent years, cities and states on the West Coast have enacted policies to encourage denser housing development. Within the past year, this trend has spread to the East Coast.
Late in 2019, Virginia became the first eastern state to propose allowing duplex housing across the state. Maryland lawmakers will debate a measure in 2020 that would increase the legally permissible density of housing only in areas with relatively high incomes, concentration of jobs, or access to public transit. The state will also consider an experiment to build European-style social housing across the state.