Single-Family Zoning
History (Un)made: Berkeley City Council Votes to Eliminate Single-Family Zoning
The city that invented single-family zoning in 1916, for discriminatory purposes, will completely remove that exclusionary legacy from its zoning code.
What is Single-Family Zoning?
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.
Context for Sacramento's Decision to End Single-Family Zoning
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.
Philadelphia City Council Pushing for More Control Over Zoning Variances
A cause abandoned by the Philadelphia City in 2019 is on the table again.
What Is Exclusionary Zoning?
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.
The Connecticut Zoning Atlas Illustrates a Proclivity for Single-Family Zoning
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.
Citywide Zoning Reforms Approved for Sacramento
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.
'Housing Choice' Approved in Massachusetts
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.
Statewide Zoning Changes Adopted in Oregon to Limit Parking, Add Missing Middle
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.
Local Zoning Controversy Raises Bigger Questions About Race and Discrimination
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.
Unlocking the Potential of Transit Adjacent Land for Housing Affordability
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.
Rezoning Every Residential Neighborhood in Cambridge for Affordable Apartment Buildings
Cambridge, Massachusetts has opened all residential neighborhoods to the development of apartments buildings with 100 percent affordable units. It might be the most "sweeping attack on elitist and racist single family zoning" in the country.
'Permit Ready Plans' for ADUs Published in Stockton, California
Cities looking to provide incentive for the construction of accessory dwelling units are increasingly released "permit ready plans" to help the cause.
On the Ballot in Alameda: The End of Single-Family Zoning
Voters in Alameda, a city of nearly 80,000 people on an island in the East San Francisco Bay Area, will vote to end a prohibition on multi-family housing that has been in place since 1973.
Lawyers Taking the Single-Family Zoning Fight to a Connecticut Town
Open Communities Alliance, along with law students and professors at a fair housing development clinic at Yale Law School, have proposed a development meant to trigger the exclusionary zoning code in the town of Woodbridge, Connecticut.
An Academic Debate With Very Real Consequences: Land Use Regulations and the Cost of Housing
An article from the journal Urban Studies is inspiring debate and controversy over a year after publication, presenting opposing opinions on fundamental questions about how land use regulation affects the housing market.
Missing Middle Density Will Take More Than Zoning Changes
Looking for change in the housing supply? "Don't stop at the zoning code and think you're done. There's so much work left to do."
Zoning Reforms Underwhelm in Minneapolis as Development Market Holds Course
As one of the first city's to comprehensively allow for residential density, Minneapolis was probably hoping for more than what it's achieved so far.
Another Defeat for Statewide Zoning Reform in California
Another year, another defeat for sweeping changes to the status quo of single-family zoning in the state of California. SB 1120 would have allowed duplexes in areas previously zoned for detached single family zoning.
What Trump Gets Wrong About America’s Suburbs
The Trump administration’s talk about protecting the suburbs is based on misrepresentations of who really lives in suburbs and what these communities need.
Placer County
City of Morganton
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Dongguan Binhaiwan Bay Area Management Committee
City of Waukesha, WI
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Indiana Borough
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