Title: Understanding Exclusionary Zoning and Its Impact on Concentrated Poverty
Headings: Understanding Exclusionary Zoning and Its Impact on Concentrated Poverty
Understanding Exclusionary Zoning and Its Impact on Concentrated Poverty
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Where Did Exclusionary Zoning Come From?
What Does Exclusionary Zoning Look Like?
What Are the Impacts of Exclusionary Zoning?
What Are Perceived Justifications for Exclusionary Zoning?
What Has Been Done To Stop Exclusionary Zoning?
Elliott Anne Rigsby, Contributor

Content: While not as overt, contemporary exclusionary zoning contributes to the same patterns of segregation as pre- Buchanan v. Warley policies. Because racial minorities are much more likely to have lower incomes, class-based discrimination tends to have a disparate impact on them, paralleling the racial discrimination of the past. In other words, the class-based discrimination embodied in today’s exclusionary zoning is, in its outcome, de facto racial discrimination. What Does Exclusionary Zoning Look Like? Traditionally, exclusionary zoning policies have kept poor, central city residents out of suburbs with minimum lot size requirements, single residence per lot requirements, minimum square footage requirements, and costly building codes. Together, these requirements make it difficult to build multi-family rental units that would allow lower-income residents to live in wealthy suburban developments with access to quality schools and employment. In addition, large lot size requirements reduce the supply of available land, drive up housing costs, and further keep out low-income families. Recently, use of exclusionary zoning has expanded into the urban core as wealthy and largely white families move back into cities. Within cities, policies like building height limits and school district lines increase property values and force low-income families into areas of concentrated poverty. Still, the effects of urban exclusionary zoning pale in comparison to the massive movement to the suburbs since the ’70s.