A Cornell University study might just provide the first hard evidence that low-density-only zoning has an exclusionary effect on housing choices for Blacks and Hispanics in the country's major metropolitan areas.

Federal reports as far back as the 1960s have suggested such a correlation, but no comprehensive study has ever been undertaken to prove that assertion.

Now, though, research by Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning Rolf Pendall at the Ithaca, N.Y. school found that compared to other communities, there were about half as many Blacks and two-thirds as many Hispanics in the jurisdictions with lower housing densities.

Pendall's study, which was published in the Spring 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA), is being hailed as "a major breakthrough" by Stuart Meck, principal investigator of the APA's Growing SmartSM project.

"Until now," Meck said, "no surveys have ever nailed down with good statistical analysis the contention, made by other studies as far back as the late 1960s, that low-density-only zoning has an exclusionary effect on housing choices for minorities."

The study covered 1980 and 1990 Census Bureau data and included a survey of 1,510 jurisdictions in the country's 25 largest metropolitan areas.

Altogether 77 percent or 1,168 communities representing 32 percent of the nation's 1990 population responded to Pendall's survey. Ninety percent of the jurisdictions that replied to the survey had zoning ordinances, although only 15 percent had low-density-only zoning (fewer than eight housing units per acre).

"I conducted the study to determine whether exclusionary zoning is still a problem in major metropolitan areas," Pendall said, "and to see whether other land-use controls reduced ethnic and racial diversity in American communities."

If the housing dynamics in the jurisdictions with low-density-only zoning had been similar to those in communities without exclusionary zoning, he pointed out, the former areas would have some 31,300 more Blacks and 21,600 more Hispanics.

Pendall found that low-density only zoning is especially prevalent in metropolitan Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Atlanta. Municipalities in the West, Florida and Maryland tend to accommodate higher density residential development, regulating new housing more actively via greenbelts, building permit caps and adequate public facilities ordinances. Midwestern municipalities tend to regulate less actively with any of these tools.

The study also uncovered some anomalies. For example, places that used building permit caps and urban growth boundaries had lower concentrations of African Americans but not significantly lower concentrations of Hispanics.

Pendall suggests that communities with low-density-only zoning became more exclusive during the 1980s as a result of growing more slowly, shifting from multi-family to more single-family housing units, and shifting away from renter occupancy.

Published: June 5, 2000

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When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.