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: Understanding Exclusionary Zoning and Its Impact on Concentrated Poverty
Facts Race & Inequality
Understanding Exclusionary Zoning and Its Impact on Concentrated Poverty
June 23, 2016
Elliott Anne Rigsby
Contributor
The United States has a self-inflicted, widespread problem: concentrated poverty. Neighborhoods with concentrated poverty— defined as census tracts where the federal poverty rate is 40 percent or more —lack resources to provide quality schools, job opportunities, safe streets, and access to quality healthcare. Nation’s Capital Broken down by Concentration of Wealth. Map by Urban Institute. Click the link to view an interactive map of the entire United States. Research shows that this concentrated poverty is on the rise. Since the 1990s, trends reducing the proportion of poor families living in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty have reversed, and experts blame public policy as the source. Exclusionary zoning is an oft-mentioned policy that keeps affordable housing out of neighborhoods through land use and building code requirements. It’s a legal practice that has been used for decades to keep lower-income people—disproportionately racial minorities—out of wealthy and middle-class neighborhoods across the country.