Single-family zoning

Single-family zoning is a type of planning restriction applied to certain residential zones in the United States and Canada in order to restrict development to only allow single-family detached homes. It disallows townhomes, duplexes, and multi-family housing (apartments) from being built on any plot of land with this zoning designation. It is a form of exclusionary zoning, and was created as a way to keep minorities out of white neighborhoods. It both increases the cost of housing units and decreases the supply. In many United States cities, 75% of land zoned for residential uses is zoned single-family.

Recently, many cities across the nation have started looking at reforming their land-use regulations, particularly single-family zoning, in attempts to solve their housing shortages and reduce the racial inequities which arise from housing segregation. These upzoning efforts would not require that new housing types be built in a neighborhood, it merely allows for flexibility in options. For example, changing a single family zoning district to a multifamily residential zoning district would not mandate single family detached homes be converted, nor would it prohibit new single family homes, it would just allow owners of those single family detached homes to subdivide their property, or owners of empty lots to build something other than a single family home.

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, states including California and Oregon as well as cities like Minneapolis and Charlottesville, Virginia have signed bills, made proposals, or started investigations to effectively eliminate single-family zoning. This includes requiring cities to approve two units and under certain conditions up to four units on single-family lots for example.

History

According to multiple sources, single-family zoning originated in 1916 in the Elmwood neighborhood of Berkeley, California as an effort to keep minorities, specifically a Black dancehall and Chinese laundries, out of white neighborhoods. Real estate developer Duncan McDuffie was one of the early proponents of single-family zoning in this neighborhood of Berkeley to prevent a dance hall owned by a Black resident from moving into houses he was trying to sell. He worried that families of color moving into the neighborhood would decrease the desirability of the neighborhood and decrease property values. By advocating for single-family zoning, McDuffie and other developers at the time were attempting to price out social groups whom they deemed to be less desirable for the neighborhood. This makes single-family zoning one of many exclusionary zoning policies intended to limit who was able to afford living in a certain neighborhood. The goal of limiting certain neighborhoods to only single-family homes meant that only families who could afford to buy an entire house could live in the neighborhood. There was not the option to subdivide housing so that families who could not afford to buy the whole property could live in smaller units.

After the US Supreme Court's 1917 decision in Buchanan v. Warley, which declared explicit race-based zoning statutes unconstitutional, the court in 1926 decided in Euclid v. Ambler that it was a legitimate use of the police power of cities to ban apartment buildings from certain neighborhoods, with Justice George Sutherland referring to an apartment complex as "a mere parasite" on a neighborhood. This enabled the spread of single-family zoning as a means to keep poor and minority people out of white neighborhoods. In many cases, homeowners and neighborhood associations adopted covenants to prevent homes in their neighborhood from being sold to buyers of color. Restrictive covenants were legal until a 1948 Supreme Court decision in Shelley v. Kraemer made them unenforceable, though they continued to be included on deeds until the 1968 Fair Housing Act deemed that illegal as well.

"Single-family zoning became basically the only option to try to maintain both race and class segregation," - Jessica Trounstine (associate professor of political science at the University of California, Merced)

Sonia Hirt, professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at the University of Georgia, states that "In the early 1900s, the racially and ethnically charged private restrictions of the late nineteenth century were temporarily overshadowed by the rise of municipal zoning ordinances with the same explicit intent." Hirt says single-family zoning is a uniquely American phenomenon: "I could find no evidence in other countries that this particular form — the detached single-family home — is routinely, as in the United States, considered to be so incompatible with all other types of urbanization as to warrant a legally defined district all its own, a district where all other major land uses and building types are outlawed."

Statistics

In many United States cities, 75% of land zoned for residential uses is zoned single-family, and across the state of California as a whole, that number is greater than 66%.
*94% San Jose, California
*89% Arlington, Texas
*84% Charlotte, N.C.
*81% Seattle
*79% Chicago
*77% Portland, Oregon
*75% Los Angeles
*36% Washington, D.C.
*15% New York City

Effects

Because this type of zoning reduces the amount of land available for new housing, it pushes development into poor, minority communities or to land beyond the borders of the city.

According to Andrew Whittemore, a professor of city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, one effect stems from the belief that higher density housing in neighborhoods decreases housing values, and that one role of the government is to keep homeowner's house values high, and because cities have prioritized single-family homeowners above other groups, this has turned city planners into wealth managers when city planners should be concerned with using zoning to prevent harm. Sonia Hirt supports this, stating, "In the United States, private profit as a result of zoning ordinances that preserved and enhanced 'investment values' was not only fully expected, it was a major zoning goal."

Racial segregation

A 2020 study from UC Berkeley stated "The greater proportion of single-family zoning, the higher the observed level of racial residential segregation."

Increases housing costs and decreases housing supply

Single-family zoning both increases housing costs and decreases the number of available units by reducing the number of units that can be built on a piece of land. As an example, an old, run-down, single family home on a typical lot in Washington, DC, would sell for about $1 million, but if it were legal for a developer to build a three-story, six unit condominium building on that lot, those units would sell for about $600,000; which is 40% less per unit and 500% more units.

Recent changes

Recently, cities across the nation have started looking at reforming their land-use regulations, particularly single-family zoning, in attempts to solve their housing shortages and reduce the racial inequities which arise from housing segregation.

In recent years, there has been a growing concern over " missing middle housing" in the United States housing market. This term refers to options in between renting apartments and buying a single family detached home on an entire lot. "Middle" housing options like this include duplexes, fourplexes, townhouses, and cottage court apartments which could provide options for lower and middle income individuals who cannot afford single family homes. Advocates for getting rid of single family zoning argue that by allowing housing options outside of only single family homes, more people would be able to stay in their cities without being priced out or relying on a shrinking supply of affordable units.

Ending single family zoning is a controversial topic. Many residents and NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) advocates do not want development to increase the density of their neighborhood of exclusively single family homes. Some argue that having apartments will decrease the value of their single family homes. Some argue that upzoning initiatives will increase effects of gentrification by increasing the housing costs in that area. Their argument is that homeowners will have a higher incentive to sell their properties at even higher rates because buyers or developers might be willing to pay more for houses they know they can convert into multiplexes. Those who are proponents of ending single family zoning call themselves YIMBYs (Yes in my Backyard) as a counter-movement to NIMBY sentiments. They argue that more housing is the answer to the housing shortage, so they see the increase in density of their neighborhood as justified.

United States

Minneapolis

In 2018, Minneapolis became the first major city in the US to end single-family zoning, (which had covered almost 75% of their residential land) by allowing duplexes and triplexes in every neighborhood, as well as higher density housing along transit lines. By allowing triplexes in all neighborhoods their intention is to give all people opportunity to move to neighborhoods with good schools or jobs, as well as to increase affordability, reduce displacement of lower-income residents, and increase both the economic and racial diversity of neighborhoods.

California

=State-level

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Prior to 2021, across the state of California as a whole, almost 66% of all residences were single-family homes and almost 75% of all developable land was zoned single-family.

In September 2021, governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 9, which effectively eliminated single-family-only zoning, requiring cities to approve two units and under certain conditions up to four units on single-family lots. This law is expected to have minimal impact on neighborhoods, as experts estimated that it is only cost effective for 5% of single-family owners to upgrade their property. A study by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley estimated that this new law could potentially result in 700,000 new housing units statewide, about 20% of the homes necessary to alleviate the housing shortage of 3.5 million homes.

Cities

In January 2021, Sacramento voted to permit up to four housing units on all residential lots to help the city reduce its housing shortage and to achieve equity goals by making neighborhoods with good schools accessible to people who cannot afford to purchase homes there.

In February 2021, the City Council of Berkeley, California voted unanimously to allow fourplexes in all neighborhoods, with Vice Mayor Lori Droste saying that this is "necessary as a first step in undoing a history of racist housing policies."

San Francisco, where almost 75% of all land zoned residential allows only single-family homes or duplexes, is scheduled in 2021 to discuss a proposal to allow fourplexes on corner lots, and any lot within half a mile from a train station. David Garcia, policy director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, said that a proposal to allow fourplexes everywhere would be a more equitable proposal, and that research shows that the housing shortage is so large that limiting new housing to specific areas would not sufficiently address the shortage.

Charlottesville

In August 2021, Charlottesville, Virginia's planning commission started investigating the idea of reducing some of their exclusionary zoning rules (particularly single-family zoning) to allow for more housing affordability, where working-class Black residents have been disproportionately displaced to surrounding communities.

Oregon

On July 2, 2019, Oregon passed House Bill 2001, requiring medium cities (more than 10,000 people) to allow duplexes in areas zoned for single-family homes and large cities (more than 25,000 people or more than 1,000 people if they are in the Portland metropolitan area) to allow duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, cottage court apartments, and townhouses in areas zoned for single-family homes. It went into effect on July 30, 2021 for medium cities and will go into effect July 30, 2022 for large cities. Almost 70% of the state (approximately 2.8 million people) lives in a city affected by the bill, and most of those live in a city affected by the provisions for large cities.

Canada

Gentle densification has been proposed in cities including Edmonton, where zoning laws have been unchanged for over 60 years. Upzoning would allow for different forms of development with greater density and height including semi-detached, row housing, backyard houses, and three-storey apartments. The proposed revisions help to idealize the 15-minute city concept. In October of 2022, Ontario announced up to three units could be built on a residential property, known as ''More Homes, Built Faster Act'', which would also prevent municipalities from setting restrictions to limit expansion.

References

Further reading

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* {{Cite book , last=Gray , first=M. Nolan , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWlnEAAAQBAJ , title=Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It , date=2022-06-21 , publisher=Island Press , isbn=978-1-64283-254-9 , language=en

Zoning in the United States
Affordable housing
Segregation