Single-Family Zoning

Dorothy Walker has spent decades working to eliminate housing discrimination. In February, the city council finally agreed.

April 1, 2021 - Grist

Upzoning is a term used to describe changes to a zoning code made to increase the amount of development allowed in the future.

March 31, 2021 - James Brasuell

The Housing Supply and Affordability Act would be a major victory for the YIMBY cause.

March 24, 2021 - Bloomberg CityLab

While some lawmakers oppose recent efforts to reform housing policies, others argue the state's affordability crisis calls for bold action.

March 19, 2021 - OC Register

The city of Oakland in the East Bay Area is a hotbed of planning and development issues, most notably gentrification and the displacement of communities of color. Now the city is considering a drastic change to its zoning code.

March 18, 2021 - Oaklandside

A proposed package of reforms working through the Connecticut Legislature would loosen zoning codes in a state traditionally committed to single-family zoning.

March 17, 2021 - Diana Ionescu

Seattle's city council considers reducing 'arbitrary' and 'exclusionary' limits on home-based businesses.

March 8, 2021 - The Urbanist

Eliminating single-family zoning and other exclusionary ordinances could have major impacts on housing in some of the country's most unaffordable cities.

March 8, 2021 - Bloomberg CityLab

Ending single-family zoning, as more cities around the United States have begun to do, is too extreme a response to contemporary planning challenges, according to a recent opinion piece published by the East Bay Times.

March 4, 2021 - East Bay Times

The city that invented single-family zoning in 1916, for discriminatory purposes, will completely remove that exclusionary legacy from its zoning code.

February 24, 2021 - San Francisco Chronicle

Single-family zoning is by far the most common form of zoning in the United States, but it's facing increasing criticisms both for its discriminatory origins and its sprawling effects.

February 23, 2021 - James Brasuell

In January, the Sacramento City Council took first steps toward ending single-family zoning citywide. The decision has provoked controversy that is influencing the next steps in the process.

February 11, 2021 - Los Angeles Times

A cause abandoned by the Philadelphia City in 2019 is on the table again.

February 1, 2021 - WHYY

Criticized as a key factor in perpetuating housing inequality in the United States, exclusionary zoning refers to a range of policies that, explicitly or implicitly, seek to prevent people of certain races, ethnicities, or income levels from buying homes in specific neighborhoods.

January 31, 2021 - James Brasuell

A new online interactive mapping tool illustrates just how much developable land is devoted to one for of residential housing in the state of Connecticut.

January 29, 2021 - Hartford Courant

The Sacramento City Council took steps toward an updated General Plan that includes a variety of innovative planning proposals, including the elimination of single-family zoning by allowing up to four dwelling units on all residential parcels.

January 20, 2021 - Sacramento Bee

The Housing Choice initiative, one of the country's most sweeping planning and development reforms to date, was included in a large economic development package approved by the Massachusetts Legislature earlier this week.

January 7, 2021 - Mass Live

The state of Oregon made planning history in 2019 by adopting House Bill 2001, paving the way for the state to preempt local exclusionary zoning laws. Now, over a year later, the state land use board has decided how to implement that goal.

December 15, 2020 - Sightline Institute

A zoning application in the city of Woodbridge, Connecticut has interests on both sides of the issue lawyering up, and the reverberations from the controversy reach all the way to the state capital.

December 10, 2020 - CT Post

A case study from the Boston region shows the power of allowing moderate density on transit adjacent residential parcels currently available only to single-family detached homes.

October 26, 2020 - Brookings