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INCLUSIONARY ZONING REALTOR® Party REALTOR® Party INCLUSIONARY ZONING Hot Topic Alerts Housing affordability is a problem for virtually of zoning laws. Various inclusionary zoning every American city. The costs of housing strategies are considered, along with the continues to increase, while incomes remain recent elimination of single-family zoning in stagnant. The U.S. Government considers Minneapolis and Oregon. We also discuss housing to be affordable when the cost is “missing middle housing” in modern cities. no more than 30% of a household’s income, Finally, we look at some of the ways REALTORS® but this does not always reflect reality. In Los are involved in advocacy related to local zoning Angeles, for example, approximately one in and land use in their communities. three renters pays more than 50% of his or her income for rent. Zoning is government’s tool for regulating land use. The typical zoning ordinance dictates The issue of affordable housing has been how land can be used in different geographic addressed in a variety of ways. One method areas within a city or county. The community that cities are using is inclusionary zoning. is partitioned according to a master plan that Inclusionary zoning refers to a program, sets out the permitted uses in specified areas. regulation, or law that requires or provides Industrial or other commercial uses will be incentives to private developers to incorporate concentrated in one area, while residential uses affordable housing in their developments. are kept in other parts of the community. In this Hot Topic Alert, we focus on zoning Zoning and land-use decisions in the United and other land use regulations. We look States are highly decentralized. The decisions at the impact of zoning laws on real estate are usually made at the local level, subject to development and consider the general outline some control by the states. The extent of that December 2019 control depends on the law of the state. Most While most states and the federal government states grant at least some cities and counties take a largely hands-off attitude towards local considerable discretion in enacting local zoning, there are some areas in which state ordinances (“home rule”). Home rule may be or federal laws override local ordinances. For limited to cities of a certain population, or example, zoning ordinances are subject to the it may be optional, something to be chosen Americans with Disabilities Act. Regulations by a city. Home-rule cities are subject to a adopted under that Act say that a city must charter adopted by the city, which is a type “make reasonable modifications in policies, of constitution for the city. Under home rule, practices, or procedures when the modifications a community can do anything not specifically are necessary to avoid discrimination on the prohibited by the state constitution, state basis of disability, unless the public entity can statutes, or the charter itself. Home-rule cities demonstrate that making the modifications are given the power to enact zoning ordinances, would fundamentally alter the nature of the but are not explicitly required to do so. The service, program, or activity.” major limitation on home-rule zoning is that the ordinances must be adopted according HOW DOES ZONING AFFECT HOUSING to a master or comprehensive plan. The DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION? comprehensive plan provides a framework A zoning ordinance sets out limits on the or blueprint for land use in the community, permitted uses of land. A neighborhood may and articulates the goals to be met by zoning be zoned for residential use, but there will be ordinances. The plan is developed by the city, further requirements, especially concerning with input from local stakeholders. density. There may be a limit on the number of housing units per acre, or the types of A few states follow a more restrictive rule apartment buildings may be limited. Some on municipal authority. This rule, known as suburban communities have zoning ordinances “Dillon’s Rule” after the author of an influential that require residential properties to have a treatise on municipal government, holds that minimum lot size of one-half acre or more per city and county governments have only the family, or may require minimum building floor powers expressly granted to them by the areas of 1,000 square feet or more. The City of state legislature or necessarily implied by Des Moines has proposed a comprehensive those express powers, and the powers that plan, known as Des Moines 2040 that would are essential to the municipality’s existence require most homes built in Des Moines to and functioning. In states that follow Dillon’s have a full basement, a single-car garage, and Rule, no zoning ordinance may be adopted a driveway. Minimum lot sizes for single-family unless state law allows it. The ordinances houses would range from 7,500 to 10,000 that may be adopted are subject to limits. square feet. For example, Missouri law says that a zoning ordinance is limited to regulating “the height, While zoning ordinances are enacted to number of stories, and size of buildings promote livable and economically viable and other structures, the percentage of lot communities by balancing the needs of all that may be occupied, the size of yards, community members, too much regulation courts, and other open spaces, the density may be counter-productive. Some researchers of population, the preservation of features of have argued that zoning and other land-use historical significance, and the location and restrictions are responsible for driving up use of buildings, structures and land for trade, housing costs, particularly in high-demand areas industry, residence or other purposes.” State law such as New York City or California. Restrictive may also contain limitations on zoning codes, zoning limits the supply of available housing, such as not allowing ordinances that prohibit driving up the price and reducing affordability. condominiums. It would be difficult to make a serious argument households earning 65% of the Area Median that all zoning laws and ordinances should Income (AMI) for garden-style apartments and be repealed. Rethinking and re-evaluating a 70% for high-rise apartments). Developments community’s zoning rules, however, does not with fewer than 20 but more than 10 units are mean that the value of zoning is being ignored. required to make a payment “in the amount of one-half (0.5) percent of the Purchase INCLUSIONARY ZONING Price of each dwelling unit” to the Housing Inclusionary zoning is a market-based approach Initiative Fund in lieu of a moderately priced to providing affordable housing. It requires or dwelling unit requirement on-site. See Code of encourages developers to set aside/include Montgomery County Regulations 25A.00.02.03. a certain percentage of housing units in their projects for low- and moderate-income Atlanta has designed an inclusionary zoning residents. Inclusionary zoning leverages private- plan with the goal of promoting affordable sector development, minimizing the financial housing for those who live and work in the city, subsidies required to meet affordable housing and to keep Atlanta rents relatively affordable goals. It also promotes several policy goals. In for working individuals and households gentrifying neighborhoods, inclusionary zoning within the income range of police, firefighters, can help slow the displacement of low-income teachers, city and county employees, and households. Research shows that inclusionary young professionals. The ordinance, which zoning also provides low-income families with went into effect in January 2018, applies to access to low-poverty neighborhoods and all new multi-family rental developments with better performing schools. at least 10 units. Developers of all covered developments must set aside at least 10% of Inclusionary zoning is implemented in a variety their units for incomes at or below 60% of, of ways. In New York City, developers are or 15% of their units for incomes at or below given a “floor area bonus” that allows them to 80% of AMI. Developers who do not set aside construct a larger building if they set aside a units must pay a one-time in-lieu fee of 15% certain percentage of units to be affordable of AMI per unit that the developer has chosen (which the City defines as “when a household not to provide. The in-lieu fees feed into a trust spends no more than 1/3 of its income on rent fund to be used for developing, rehabilitating, and utilities.). Montgomery County, Maryland, and/or reconstructing additional affordable requires that between 12.5 and 15% of the housing units. A developer who builds the total number of units in every subdivision or affordable units is offered incentives, such high-rise building of 20 or more units must be as 15% additional floor area ratio, reduced moderately priced (defined as affordable to minimum parking space requirements, priority review of applications, or “major project status,” which allows the developer to meet with representatives from city departments in order to identify issues and expedite the permitting process. Chicago’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) requires developments subject to the ordinance to set aside 10% of residential units as affordable housing or to donate $100,000 per required unit to the city’s Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund. If a project receives financial assistance from the city, 20% of the units must be affordable. Projects are generally subject to the ARO if they include 10 or more residential units and receive certain zoning The detrimental effects to developers can be changes, include land purchased from the city, softened by careful crafting of the inclusionary receive financial assistance from the city, or are a zoning ordinance. Most ordinances contain part of a Planned Development in a downtown some form of incentive to developers that can zoning district.
Recommended publications
  • Inclusionary Zoning Primer Updated August 2019
    Inclusionary Zoning Primer Updated August 2019 1201 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 T 800 368 5242 nahb.org Table of Contents Executive Summary and Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….3 Research on Inclusionary Zoning……………………………………………………………………………………………7 Price and Production Effects……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7 Statutory, Implementation, and Effectiveness Issues……………………………………………………………………………….……10 Latest Reports……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19 The Role of Incentives in Closing the Affordability Gap in Inclusionary Zoning………………………………………………25 Promising State and Local Alternatives for Providing Affordable Housing ……………………………27 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..32 Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..33 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………44 Cover photo of Luminaira at Parasol Park, photo courtesy of Tsutumida Pictures 2 Executive Summary and Introduction Millions of American families struggle to find housing at a price they can afford as the gap between incomes and the cost of housing grows larger every year. Many families are forced to commute long distances, pay a disproportionate share of their incomes on housing, or live in housing that does not meet their needs. The reasons for this gap are many. Local governments have developed plans that foster job growth but do not provide sufficient housing for workers, and some discourage or limit multifamily housing. Elaborate planning and zoning schemes, or outdated ones, make it difficult to develop land and a variety of housing types, especially the affordable housing needed to keep up with demand. Complex, lengthy, and uncertain development approval processes, fees imposed on new housing and environmental requirements constrain the availability of developable land and drive up the cost of housing. Those resisting higher density development (often referred to as NIMBY groups) have become more sophisticated and organized over time to deter growth and development.
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  • City Housing Trust Fund Revenues 2021
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  • The Persistence of Exclusionary Zoning in New Jersey
    The Persistence of Exclusionary Zoning in New Jersey by Noelle van Baaren, Center for Law in Metropolitan Equity Fellow Introduction: Since 1975, the Mount Laurel doctrine has required that New Jersey municipalities provide their fair share of the regional need for low and moderate-income housing.[1] Yet despite this landmark decision, New Jersey is still one of the top ten most racially and economically segregated states.[2] In this paper, I will provide a working definition of exclusionary zoning in the both the economic and racial contexts. I will argue that despite the powerful efforts of the judiciary to position New Jersey’s at the forefront of inclusionary land use policy, the practice of exclusionary zoning is both persistent and widespread. In Part I of this paper, I will provide a definition of exclusionary zoning in the context of both economics and race. In Part II, I will examine the types of ordinances that municipalities use as subterfuge to create the same exclusionary effect that existed before the Mount Laurel cases. In Part III, I will argue that exclusionary zoning is not legally permissible in New Jersey under the New Jersey Fair Housing Act NJFHA. In Part IV, I will examine census data to see to what degree exclusionary zoning still exists in New Jersey, despite the Mount Laurel Doctrine, NJFHA and Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and demonstrate that where exclusionary zoning does exist, it disproportionately impacts minorities. Finally in Part V, I will look at the practice of inclusionary zoning – and the impact that implementing these type of land use policies could have in the greater context of regional equity.
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  • The Cost of Affordability: Inclusionary Zoning and Displacement in East New York James Shelton
    The Cost of Affordability: Inclusionary Zoning and Displacement in East New York James Shelton What are the impacts of New York City’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program upon low- income communities of color? James Shelton offers new insights in a consideration of the recent East New York rezoning. Population growth and a steady increase in housing costs since the mid-1990s has led to a crisis of housing affordability and access in New York City. To address this, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has embarked on an ambitious campaign1 to generate 300,000 units of affordable housing by 2026. A key strategy to achieve this goal involved the adoption of the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program, a zoning tool which allows for substantial increases in residential density in exchange for affordable housing. However, the application of MIH in largely low-income, majority non-white areas has heightened the risk of residential displacement in these communities, with the affordability requirements doing little to mitigate this threat for many of the city’s lowest-income residents. New York City’s MIH program has included rezoning proposals for the low-income neighborhoods of East New York, East Harlem, Inwood, Downtown Far Rockaway, Flushing West, and the Jerome Avenue corridor, while avoiding proposals for low-density, transit-rich areas like Forest Hills, which appear to be good candidates for MIH but are largely white and middle- to upper-class. In 2016, the first MIH rezoning was approved in East New York, located at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. The city contends that the upzoning will be a cost-effective means of building much needed affordable housing and fostering income diversity in the neighborhood.
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  • History of Racist Planning Practices in Portland
    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) Primary Author Jena Hughes, Planning Assistant Contributors Tom Armstrong, Supervising Planner Ryan Curren, Management Analyst Eric Engstrom, Principal Planner Love Jonson, Planning Assistant (former) Nick Kobel, Associate Planner Neil Loehlein, GIS Leslie Lum, East District Planner Deborah Stein, Principal Planner (former) Sandra Wood, Principal Planner Joe Zehnder, Chief Planner Communications Eden Dabbs Cover Design Krista Gust, Graphic Designer Bureau Partners Avel Gordly, Former Oregon State Senator Cameron Herrington (Living Cully) Allan Lazo (Fair Housing Council of Oregon) Kim McCarty (Portland Housing Bureau) Felicia Tripp (Portland Leadership Foundation) TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 4 EARLY PLANNING AND THE BEGINNING OF EXCLUSIONARY ZONING ........................................ 5 1900-1930: Early zoning ..................................................................................................................... 5 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s: Expansion of single-family zoning ................................................... 8 1960s and 1970s: Increased neighborhood power in land use decisions ............................ 11 CONTEMPORARY PLANNING, 1980 TO EARLY 2000s ..................................................................... 11 1980 Comprehensive Plan: More single-family zoning ............................................................
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  • Ordinance of the City of Jersey City, N.J
    Ordinance of the City of Jersey City, N.J. File No. Ord. 20-089 Agenda No. 3.1 (1st Reading) Agenda No. 4.1 (2nd Reading and Final Passage) AN ORDINANCE CREATING CHAPTER 187 (INCLUSIONARY ZONING) OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE REQUIRING THE INCLUSION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING UNITS IN ALL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS WITH RESIDENTIAL WHICH HAVE RECEIVED USE VARIANCES OR INCREASED DENSITY OR HEIGHT. COUNCIL AS A WHOLE offered and moved adoption of the following ordinance: WHEREAS, a purpose of the Municipal Land Use Law (hereinafter “the M.L.U.L.”), at N.J.S.A. 40:55D-2.a, is to encourage municipal action to guide the appropriate use or development of all lands in this state in a manner which will promote the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare; and WHEREAS, a purpose of the M.L.U.L., at N.J.S.A. 40:55D-2.e, is to promote the establishment of appropriate population densities and concentrations that will contribute to the well-being of persons, neighborhoods, communities and regions and preservation of the environment; and WHEREAS, the City of Jersey City has adopted a Housing Element, as per N.J.S.A. 52:27D-311, the “municipality may provide for its fair share and low and moderate income housing by means of any technique or combination of techniques which provide a realistic opportunity for the provision of the fair share”; and WHEREAS, the Municipal Council of the City of Jersey City wishes to ensure that as the City grows and attracts market-rate residential development that it also provides opportunity for the City to meet its resident’s, current and future, affordable housing needs; and WHEREAS, an inclusionary ordinance with incentives and requiring a mandatory set-aside of affordable housing on- site is an effective and fair means of encouraging and ensuring the production of affordable housing by private sector developers recognized by the New Jersey Supreme Court inSo.
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  • View/Download
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  • INCLUSIONARY ZONING: Six Insights from International Experience by Martine August and Giuseppe Tolfo
    INCLUSIONARY ZONING: Six insights from international experience By Martine August and Giuseppe Tolfo n April 2018, the Province of Ontario SUMMARY RÉSUMÉ passed legislation enabling municipalities Inclusionary zoning (IZ) is Le zonage inclusif (ZI) est de plus en Ito craft inclusionary zoning (IZ) policies. increasingly viewed as a best plus considéré comme une pratique Ontario now joins British Columbia, Quebec, practice in planning, and a potential exemplaire en matière de planification and Manitoba in having authorized some form solution to crises in housing et une solution potentielle aux crises of IZ. In Ontario, IZ is viewed with hope as a affordability. For jurisdictions de l’abordabilité du logement. Pour potential solution to affordable housing crisis. considering this approach, we les territoires qui envisagent cette While increasingly viewed as a best practice offer six insights into IZ from the approche, nous offrons six points de in planning, enthusiasm for IZ often draws on international experience. IZ was vue sur le ZI à partir de l’expérience limited research-based evidence, which can originally conceived as a suburban internationale. Conçu à l’origine comme easily be misinterpreted or misunderstood. policy, and is far from monolithic, une politique suburbaine, le ZI est loin With this article, we share insights into IZ with a vast range of potential designs d’être monolithique, avec une vaste that will guide planners and policy makers in that influence its effectiveness. gamme de conceptions potentielles making better sense of this policy. European adaptations of IZ are qui en influencent l’efficacité. Les To begin, what is IZ? It is a tool used in based on different conceptions of adaptations européennes du ZI sont planning to require that affordable housing property that may inspire Canadian fondées sur différentes conceptions be provided in new residential developments, planners.
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  • Gentrification & Neighborhood Change
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  • Inclusionary Zoning Reclaimed Andrew G
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  • Zoning and Land Use: Charlottesville Community Discussion Related to Planning Futures and Citizen Impacts
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  • The Role of Zoning Regulations in the Perpetuation of Racial Inequality and Poverty: a Case Study of Oakland, California
    The Role of Zoning Regulations in the Perpetuation of Racial Inequality and Poverty: A Case Study of Oakland, California A policy-focused story told with maps from The Place Database By Amy DeNinno, Mills College The findings and conclusions of this narrative reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. June 2019 Photo Credit: Getty Images/jhorrocks. 1 The Problem: Income (and Race-Based) Discrimination Owning property improves economic standing substantially for low- and moderate-income households and renting a home in a wealthier neighborhood gives low-income families access to improved education and safer environments. However, exclusionary zoning practices continue to prevent low-income households from gaining these two key sources of wealth—education and property—and have severely limited economic mobility. Exclusionary zoning is used to prevent higher density development in proximity to wealth and reinforces income-based discrimination, which is reflected in planning guidelines, the legal structure, and the bootstrap framework of American society. For example, individuals can’t obtain zoning variances based solely on economic hardship because economic hardship is typically considered “self-inflicted” rather than the result of a variety of societal and historic factors (Fulton 2018). In addition, many zoning regulations that are attributed to the character of a neighborhood functionally bar new development that would allow low-income individuals to move into these neighborhoods, and benefit from increased funding for community resources, education, and infrastructure. The most common exclusionary zoning measures include large minimum lot sizes, single unit per lot requirements, and minimum square footage requirements (Rigsby 2016).
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