EXCLUDED

Provocative study of how institutional measures reinforce inequality of opportunity in housing and other aspects of daily life.

Across the U.S., writes attorney and activist Kahlenberg, “zoning laws prohibit the construction of multifamily units” that are economically accessible to low-income families. Many municipalities issue regulations on minimum lot sizes, again sorting out the cash-poor who might be able to afford small homes on small pieces of land. The effect, Kahlenberg argues, is that, while to all superficial appearances overt racial discrimination is declining, economic discrimination is rising—and economic discrimination, of course, disproportionately affects minorities, and it’s entirely legal. The result, one researcher concludes, is “incipient class apartheid.” What the author calls “snob zoning” is an obstacle to equal opportunity: It not only blocks those of lesser means from large parts of any given community, but also discourages the ability to purchase a home and build the intergenerational wealth that comes from equity. Kahlenberg notes that districts with the highest rates of postwar Black migration are those with the most stringent regulations, as with one San Jose–area suburb that for years has forbidden anything but single-family-home construction. While the author allows that “some zoning regulations are essential” and that reforming discriminatory zoning laws is not the only remedy, it would make a good start, especially in a time when home ownership has lost some of its previous political clout. As evidence, Kahlenberg cites Trump-era cuts in mortgage-interest deductions even as Trump warned that Biden’s policies, if elected, would “allow ‘low-income housing’ to ‘invade’ suburban neighborhoods.” Suburban voters didn’t bite, and the author holds out hope that they will be amenable to further zoning reforms that, as he notes, would have the effect of building more diverse communities, which would promote “a more cohesive, less polarized democracy.”

A thoughtful, worthy argument for fair-housing reforms that are truly fair.