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Feb 3, 2022Liked by Harlo Pippenger

The DC Council had the DC planning office write a report on repealing single-family zoning with an emphasis on racial equity recently so it was also looking at this question.

The report noted the environmental and affordability benefits of allowing more multi-family housing and the history of racism in zoning. Their ultimate recommendation was that single-family zoning should be repealed (to allow 'gentle density') in what they politely called the "high-cost, high-opportunity" parts of town - ie exclusionary rich white neighborhoods - arguing that would make those places more inclusionary and having a greater mix of moderate-income housing than they have now. So they did not recommend the repeal of single-family zoning in other communities, which made sense to me as those are not the communities that have historically been excluding others through high prices, zoning, or other mechanisms.

Report here: https://plandc.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/Comprehensiveplan/007_Single%20Family%20Housing%20Report.pdf

Thought you might be interested in DC's look at equitable upzoning. Of course, it would require a lot of political courage to stand up to the wealthiest neighborhoods in DC and make them less exclusionary - so this likely will just be a report gathering dust than a roadmap for any real action.

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