by Randy Shaw on November 18, 2024 (BeyondChron.org)
How Zoning Reforms Improve Cities
When I was promoting my book on the nation’s housing crisis—Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America—an editor for a housing publication asked me, “How come you are so obsessed with zoning”? I replied that zoning was a core tenants’ issue yet even “progressive” cities banned new apartments in most neighborhoods. I then emphasized the class and racial dynamics of exclusionary zoning, and how single-family zoning hurts tenants.
I failed to convince her that zoning reform was a progressive stance. If questioned now about zoning’s importance I would recomment Sara C. Bronin’s new book, Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World. This new book by a Cornell professor and Hartford Planning Commissioner offers a “case closed” argument on zoning’s use as a potentially powerful progressive tool. She leaves readers convinced that zoning reform should be part of urban activists social justice agenda,
A City By City Approach
Bronin makes her case by examining how city after city uses zoning to achieve certain goals. Originally raised in Houston, she starts by revealing some widely unknown truths about the city commonly cited as “proving” the lack of need for zoning.
One little known truth is that while Houston does not use exclusionary zoning to ban new apartments in various neighborhoods, it accomplishes this goal through deed restrictions. If a homeowner’s deed says the property cannot be used for apartments, that prevents multi-family occupancy as effectively as zoning bans.
Another little-discussed truth about Houston is that its lack of zoning has resulted in unhealthy industrial uses in low-income residential areas. She notes that “the most affordable areas in Houston are the low-income and minority neighborhoods of the city that are the least regulated by the city or by private covenants.” Bronin cites the extensive writings about Houston by environmental justice pioneer Robert Bullard, “who argues that the city’s lack of regulations fail communities of color.”
The Minneapolis “Miracle”?
I was also struck by Bronin’s insightful analysis of zoning reform in Minneapolis. She writes, “the phrase ‘eliminate single-family zoning’ gained traction in Minneapolis and became a rallying cry for YIMBY reformers nationwide.” I’m guilty. I wrote about Minneapolis’s zoning reform movement in my book along with articles on this site promoting the city’s pioneering efforts to end single-family zoning.
Well, Bronin reports that only seventy-six units of two to four unit buildings were approved in Minneapolis in 2021. Why so few? Blame what she calls the curtailing of zoning reform by “a thousand cuts.” It’s not enough to legalize multi-family units if regulations on floor-to area-ratios, lot size minimums, strict design standards and other requirements remain.
Bronin sees the same “zoning by a thousand cuts” problem in her home state of Connecticut. Duplexes were allowed “as of right” but aren’t getting built due to a raft of other hidden requirements.
Bronin’s analysis reminds me of what is currently going on in Los Angeles. The city with the nation’s worst homelessness problem and with a seemingly pro-housing mayor is all for upzoning neighborhoods—except for the 72% of the residential land in the city that is single-family zoned. Abundant Housing LA is urging people to attend a November 19 City Council meeting to convince legislators to legalize apartments in desirable single-family neighborhoods. But the Planning Commission’s approval of such a reactionary anti-housing plan confirms Bronin’s arguments about the fine print on zoning reform.
A Long Way to Go
Bronin shows how city after city passed elitist and exclusionary zoning laws decades ago. Yet many persist. We need more activists focused on zoning’s impacts. That’s what her book will hopefully help change.
I also hope her book impacts media coverage of zoning reform efforts. The media loves to promote breakthroughs. We write about Portland, Austin, Berkeley and other cities where activists have finally opened up areas to new apartments. But as Bronin points out throughout her book, the actual numbers of new apartments produced remain far, far too few.
We see that in San Francisco. There are over 70,000 units entitled to build that are not yet moving forward. State law has preempted the city’s notorious anti-housing policies yet shovels are still not turning the ground. High interest rates and an uncertain local economy have left lenders skittish about investing in the city. This despite its long history of successful for-profit developments.
So while activists deserve credit for YIMBY victories and for moving the urban policy debate in a pro-housing direction, there remains work to be done. Thanks to Sara Bronin for writing a book that provides another helpful tool for activists to win future legislative and electoral campaigns.
Randy Shaw
Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco
