Jenna Davis writes for Brookings: As cities across the country grapple with soaring housing costs, the need for zoning reform is more pressing than ever. Cities are in desperate need of more housing, but exclusionary zoning practices often thwart housing growth. Indeed, a growing body of evidence has identified how exclusionary zoning places artificial constraints on supply, exacerbates residential racial segregation, and contributes to rising housing costs. In response, policymakers have called for zoning reforms that would allow more small homes to be built in expensive markets, which often prohibit non-single-family detached homes. President Biden’s infrastructure plan, which supports awarding grants and tax credits to municipalities that reform their zoning codes to allow multifamily developments in neighborhoods restricted to single-family homes, offers substantial promise to dismantle exclusionary zoning.
go to Brookings website: The double-edged sword of upzoning (brookings.edu)
