Exclusionary zoning

Exclusionary zoning is the use of zoning ordinances to exclude certain types of land uses from a given community. As of the 2010s, exclusionary zoning ordinances are standard in almost all communities. Exclusionary zoning was introduced in the early 1900s, typically to prevent racial and ethnic minorities from moving into middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. Municipalities use zoning to limit the supply of available housing units, such as by prohibiting multi-family residential dwellings or setting minimum lot size requirements. These ordinances raise costs, making it less likely that lower-income groups will move in. Development fees for variance (land use), a building permit, a certificate of occupancy, a filing (legal) cost, special permits and planned-unit development applications for new housing also raise prices to levels inaccessible for lower income people. Exclusionary zoning is the use of zoning ordinances to exclude certain types of land uses from a given community. As of the 2010s, exclusionary zoning ordinances are standard in almost all communities. Exclusionary zoning was introduced in the early 1900s, typically to prevent racial and ethnic minorities from moving into middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. Municipalities use zoning to limit the supply of available housing units, such as by prohibiting multi-family residential dwellings or setting minimum lot size requirements. These ordinances raise costs, making it less likely that lower-income groups will move in. Development fees for variance (land use), a building permit, a certificate of occupancy, a filing (legal) cost, special permits and planned-unit development applications for new housing also raise prices to levels inaccessible for lower income people. Exclusionary zoning is done to safeguard the individual's property value, reduce traffic congestion, and exclude unalike groups. Exclusionary land-use policies exacerbate social segregation by deterring any racial and economic integration, decrease the total housing supply of a region and raise housing prices. As well, regions with much economic segregation channel lower income students into lower performing schools thereby prompting educational achievement differences. A comprehensive survey in 2008 found that over 80% of United States jurisdictions imposed minimum lot size requirements of some kind on their inhabitants. These ordinances continue to reinforce discriminatory housing practices throughout the United States. Zoning began gaining prominence in land-use regulations throughout the United States in the late 19th century. Ultimately, despite resistance from excluded peoples and activists, the policy is still extensively used in the 2010s across the country. The vast, land-rich country upheld the notion that state powers should not interfere with private property. Also, given the country's predominately rural and isolated composition, most citizens were unconcerned about who their neighbors were at the time. Thus, early Americans largely disapproved of any early attempts at exclusionary zoning. However, around the turn of the 20th century, a rapid urbanization process and influx of immigrants transformed the country. Middle and upper-classes consequently encountered much greater diversity than they had before making the intrusion of unwanted people into their neighborhoods appear more conceivable. As a result, many cities began implementing the first exclusionary zoning policies. In 1908, Los Angeles adopted the first citywide zoning ordinance protecting residential areas from the entrance of these undesirable community elements. Many of these early regulations directly debarred racial and ethnic minorities from community residence until explicit racial zoning was declared unconstitutional in 1917. Despite the unconstitutionality of such explicit measures, exclusionary ordinances continued to gain popularity throughout the country. Given the increased utilization of exclusionary zoning, the United States federal government finally addressed the issue with the enactment of the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act of 1922. This legislation established the institutional framework for zoning ordinances. It delegated land-use power to local authorities for the conservation of community welfare and provided guidelines for appropriate regulation usage. In light of these developments, the Supreme Court considered zoning's constitutionality in the 1926 landmark case of Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.. The court ultimately condoned zoning as an acceptable means of community regulation. Following this verdict, the number of municipalities with zoning legislation multiplied from 368 in 1925 to over 1,000 in 1930. Following World War II's end and the country's subsequent suburbanization process, exclusionary zoning policies experienced an uptick in complexity, stringency and prevalence as suburbanites attempted to more effectively protect their new communities. Many people had severed ties with the city and its unwanted elements as they searched for their suburban utopia. They feared that these very city elements that they escaped would follow them into the suburbs if left unchecked. Thus, middle-class and affluent whites, who constituted the majority of suburban inhabitants, more frequently employed measures preventing immigrant and minority integration. As a result of resident's newly found protectionism, the number of jurisdictions with such ordinances increased to over 5,200 by 1968. While well-off whites mainly inhabited the suburbs, the remaining city residents, primarily impoverished minorities, faced substantial obstacles to wealth. Many attributed their impecunious state to their exclusion from the suburbs. In response, a flurry of exclusionary zoning cases were brought before the Supreme Court in the 1970s that would ultimately determine the tactic's fate. The Supreme Court sided with the proponents of exclusionary zoning in near unanimity which virtually halted any zoning reform movement. The ability of minorities and other excluded populations to challenge exclusionary zoning became essentially nonexistent, allowing the policy's unabated continuation today. American courts have historically most greatly valued individual property rights. However, more recently, concern for the general community welfare has begun taking precedence thus exculpating most exclusionary zoning measures. Communities are granted freedom to enact policies in accordance with community welfare goals even in the case that they infringe upon a specific individual's property rights. Courts also have regularly ruled as if municipal regulatory power emanated from their role as agents for local families rather than for the government. Regulation was equated with some manner of 'market force' rather than 'state force' thereby allowing the policies to bypass many questions of justification required for state policy enactment. For example, they did not have to prove that their policies benefited the well-being of society at large. Rather, they could merely enact regulations on the sole basis that it was their prerogative as an agent of the market regardless of any adverse effects on others. Therefore, exclusionary mechanisms were allowed to endure as complaints about the negative effects on the excluded population ultimately became null and irrelevant. Buchanan v. Warley 1917: A Louisville city ordinance prohibiting the sale of property to African Americans was brought to court. It was ultimately declared that such racial zoning was unconstitutional and a breach of individuals' freedom of contract. As a result, ordinances were no longer able to explicitly reject certain types of people but rather were now forced to resort to subtler means of exclusion.