Sustaining communities through equitable zoning.

We recognize that zoning has been misused to perpetuate structural racial and economic inequality and injustice for over a century in America. Zoning can be a powerful and effective regulatory tool to advance equitable and just outcomes for communities.Sean S. Suder, CEO and Founder

What equitable zoning means

Equity in zoning means everyone gets the same rights and opportunities regardless of race or income. Zoning regulations should not restrict certain populations from parts of a city, limit access to affordable housing, or perpetuate existing racial and economic disparities. Getting there means examining the regulations honestly, allowing a variety of housing types, and removing the barriers that keep affordable housing from being built.

How zoning drives housing costs

Zoning regulations often cap the number of homes that can be built in a given area, require minimum lot sizes and square footages, prohibit multi-family dwellings, and restrict accessory dwelling units. Each of these constrains supply. Together they make it hard to build housing that lower-income households can afford, and they push the cost of everything else up with it. Housing costs as a share of income determine what people can spend on the rest of their lives. Affordability is the economy.

What zoning can do instead

• Reduce the regulatory barriers to building housing
• Eliminate artificial constraints on supply: density maximums, setbacks, height limits, open space minimums, and minimum lot sizes that were never calibrated to anything
• Calibrate zoning to actual housing demand
• Reform approval processes so that context-appropriate housing is permitted, not negotiated
• Balance residential and commercial development, connect neighborhoods to transit, and make sure every neighborhood has access to the same amenities

Communities that do this get more diverse and inclusive neighborhoods, more walkable and bikeable places, and more economic opportunity. A message we hold to: when a community permits more housing types in single-family districts, it is adding something, not taking anything away.

The Zoning Equity Scorecard

ZoneCo developed a first-of-its-kind Zoning Equity Scorecard, a structured assessment of how a zoning code treats housing choice, access, and opportunity. The scorecard is available to any community with a zoning code, on its own or as part of a zoning diagnostic. Evanston, Illinois engaged ZoneCo for a zoning equity assessment ahead of its code rewrite.

The Equitable Zoning Advisory Committee

ZoneCo convened what we believe to be a first-of-its-kind advisory committee formed specifically to advise the firm on matters of racial, social, and economic equity and justice as they relate to land use planning and zoning. Initiated by Sean Suder and Jocelyn Gibson, the committee brought together professionals highly regarded for their work on these issues. Its goals: expose the root assumptions of zoning, challenge them, and rebuild zoning as a tool for more equitable and just outcomes; and connect land use and zoning to the everyday experiences of historically marginalized people, in particular Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

Past committee members:

• Christie Angel, former President and CEO, YWCA Columbus; former Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Michael B. Coleman, City of Columbus
• Bobby Boone, Founder and Chief Strategist, & Access, Washington, D.C.
• Charles T. Brown, MPA, Senior Researcher, Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center; Adjunct Professor, Bloustein School, Rutgers University
• Jermaine R. Ruffin, Director of Development, West Region, City of Detroit; host of "The Streets are Planning"
• Heather Worthington, MPA, Founder, Worthington Advisors; former Director of Long Range Planning, City of Minneapolis