Residential Zoning by Race - Introduction
by Carolyn Ristau
As we continue with our transition planning, we encourage our readers to revisit the resources we have already published. This includes our research on Residential Zoning by Race.
Residential Zoning by Race explores the hypothesis that Pittsburgh’s current single-family and multi-family zoning districts follow a racial and exclusionary pattern that affects the housing choices available to White and Black residents. This pattern is tested through a GIS analysis of historic and current zoning maps, the 1937 Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) map, and the historic racial compositions of the city by census tract.
Zoning is a local land use law that divides a municipality into different districts or zones, each with different use and density regulations. Zoning districts are often characterized by the uses they allow: residential, commercial, mixed-use, or industrial. The most common uses in residential zoning districts are single-family dwellings, rowhouses or townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, and apartments with four or more units.
Most municipalities have multiple residential zoning districts often focusing on each of these residential use types. In a hierarchical zoning city, like Pittsburgh, residential districts add more uses as they become less restrictive. For example, a Single-Unit district allows only 1-family dwellings, while a Two-Unit district allows 1-family and 2-family dwellings. In a flat zoning city, each use or group of uses has its own district where it is permitted, and it is not permitted in any other district. For example, a Single-Unit district allows only 1-family dwellings, while a Two-Unit district allows only 2-family dwellings. In either approach, there is a zoning district that only permits detached single-family dwellings and no other residential use.
Nationally, there is a conversation to reform zoning because this exclusive single-family zoning district is contributing to the crises of housing availability and affordability. Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Connecticut are early adopters of this reform. Minneapolis and San Francisco are taking local approaches to add more housing options in the single-family zone. DesegregateCT is pursuing a statewide approach to zoning reform. More municipalities and states are taking on these and other reforms. In these changes to zoning, there is consensus that the exclusive single-family zoning district limits housing options and therefore housing affordability, but by focusing on this district the conversation and solutions are limited. The single-family zoning district did not grow in isolation; it is important to consider the other districts, particularly the multi-family zoning district, in formulating a solution to the limitations and exclusions of the single-family zone.
Residential Zoning by Race seeks to expand this conversation about how to address the issues of housing availability and affordability by looking at the patterns of where single-family and multi-family zoning districts are located in Pittsburgh in the context of race and redlining. This pattern is important because zoning affects housing choice and affordability by designating what types of housing can and cannot be built or renovated in any area.
To read more continue to the project page’s dive into Pittsburgh’s Zoning History.
