Silver Bullet or Trojan Horse? The Effects of Inclusionary Zoning on Local Housing Markets

Submitted by Urban Insight on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 12:55
Author

Jenny Schuetz, Rachel Meltzer, and Vicki Been

Year Published
2009
Abstract
Many local governments are adopting inclusionary zoning (IZ) as a means of producing
affordable housing without direct public subsidies. In this paper, we use panel data on IZ
in the San Francisco metropolitan area and Suburban Boston to analyze how much
affordable housing the programs produce and how IZ affects the prices and production of
market-rate housing. The amount of affordable housing produced under IZ has been
modest and depends primarily on how long IZ has been in place. Results from Suburban
Boston suggest that IZ has contributed to increased housing prices and lower rates of
production during periods of regional house price appreciation. In the San Francisco area,
IZ also appears to increase housing prices in times of regional price appreciation but to
decrease prices during cooler regional markets. There is no evidence of a statistically
significant effect of IZ on new housing development in the Bay Area.
Research Category

Download