Zoning—the rules about what can and cannot be built, and where—shapes everyone’s lives in powerful ways, but often operates invisibly to the average person. Residential zoning is particularly impactful, because it determines what types of housing exist in which neighborhoods, whether apartments or duplexes are allowed, where homes must have multiple parking spaces or large yards that drive up cost, and, ultimately, who can afford to live in any neighborhood where housing is built. It affects who gets easy access to stores, restaurants, libraries, parks, and medical facilities. And because over 70 percent of American school children attend their assigned public school, usually based on their address, housing policy is, in effect, education policy.1 What can be built in a community determines who gets to live there and who goes to school there. Indeed, the parents of one in five public school students report that they chose where to live because of access to schools.
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- United States of America
