Overview
  • Overview
  • Increasing Housing Supply
  • Dedicated Funding Sources
  • Land Use Regulation and Approval Reforms
  • Inclusionary Zoning
  • Regional Housing Target Enforcement
  • Ending and Preventing Homelessness
  • Systems-Level Racial Equity Analysis
  • Emergency Response Resources
  • Housing First
  • Master Leasing
  • Household and Community Protections
  • “Just Cause” Eviction Laws
  • Anti-Gouging Rent Regulations
  • Strategic Code Enforcement
  • Community Benefit Agreements
  • Community Power-Building
  • Community Ownership
  • Alliance and Coalition Building
  • Community Organizing
  • Tenant Organizing
  • Opportunity and Wealth
  • Mobility Assistance Programs
  • Rent Reporting
  • Reparations
  • Fair and Equitable Appraisals
  • Acknowledgments
    • Inclusionary Zoning

    Overview

    Establishing requirements for developers to include affordable units as part of market-rate developments can also increase the supply of affordable housing. This is known as “inclusionary zoning” (IZ), though the specifics of each policy vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. IZ policies can be voluntary or mandatory; can apply to rental housing, owner-occupied housing, or both; and can apply to all developments or only developments of a certain size.

    Inclusionary zoning policies have been adopted in many localities across the nation, and evidence suggests that IZ policies are effective at increasing the supply of affordable housing (though they tend to be more effective in localities with strong housing markets). This may be because some IZ policies increase costs for developers, which makes projects in relatively weaker housing markets less profitable. But many IZ policies provide offsetting benefits, such as density bonuses that allow developers to build more units than would otherwise have been allowed, that help offset added costs.

    Beyond increasing the stock of affordable housing, IZ policies offer several other benefits, including reducing income segregation, which is common in predominantly affordable properties. However, because the affordable units produced through IZ policies remain privately owned, there are generally limits on the length of time for which the units remain affordable.

    Overall, the evidence remains mixed on whether IZ policies restrict development or increase housing prices—and research highlights the importance of tailoring any policy to local conditions and obtaining community input.

    Examples of This Strategy in Action

    • Chicago adopted an Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) in 2003. As of 2015, the ordinance required certain projects to designate 10 to 20 percent of units as affordable, including residential projects with 10 or more units that receive a zoning change, projects developed on land purchased from the city, and projects receiving financial assistance from the city.

      Chicago has updated the ARO multiple times since 2003 to better respond to community needs. Most recently, in 2019, the city established an Inclusionary Housing Task Force comprising 20 local community-based housing advocates, nonprofit and market-rate developers, and policy experts, with the goal of revising the ARO to combat segregation, to create more opportunities for affordable housing in historically exclusionary neighborhoods, and to increase transparency in the process for residents and developers. The revised ARO, adopted in April 2021, expands the range of housing options for residents with low incomes and incorporates antidisplacement measures that allow longtime residents to remain in their communities.

     

     

    Next intervention: Regional Housing Target Enforcement