\n\n“I\u2019m very supportive of efforts to either essentially bribe localities into doing the right thing through a Race to the Top program if you don\u2019t reduce exclusionary zoning. I think that\u2019s a good effort, but I think that the Economic Fair Housing Act offers something both substantively and politically that\u2019s better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think part of the problem with the existing federal proposals is that they suggest that exclusionary zoning is bad policy because it blocks opportunity and makes housing less affordable and damages the planet. All of those things are true, but what I think the Economic Fair Housing Act tries to do is say it\u2019s not just bad policy, it\u2019s immoral for governments to erect barriers that exclude and discriminate based on income … because it\u2019s shameful what\u2019s going on.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In the 21st century, segregated communities are kept that way not through laws that explicitly attempt to keep certain areas white but through a more insidious method \u2014 exclusionary zoning and land-use regulations<\/a> that make it illegal to build affordable types of housing, laws that allow wealthy Americans to block things from being built<\/a>, and a failure to consistently use federal civil rights laws to desegregate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of this has resulted in the prices of housing and rent skyrocketing<\/a>. Over the last year, diminished supply as a result of these laws has pushed the cost of shelter<\/a> higher than ever, straining the pockets of working-class, middle-class, and even some high-income Americans.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “In certain communities, there is still an intent to segregate by race, so I don\u2019t want to downplay that, but having said that, there\u2019s certainly evidence that the issue of exclusionary zoning is not only about race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know in predominantly white communities that wealthy whites will use zoning to exclude lower-income whites. We also know, for example, in Prince George\u2019s County, Maryland, a predominantly Black community, that there are efforts by wealthier Black people to exclude lower-income Black people through exclusionary zoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In some white, liberal communities, you will hear people say they are delighted to have a Black doctor or lawyer move in next door. And so they feel virtuous for no longer excluding directly based on race, without acknowledging that they\u2019d be highly uncomfortable with working-class Black people or white people moving into the neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I think it\u2019s important that we recognize that there\u2019s exclusion going on by both race and class, which is why we need some new tools to beef up the existing laws.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n