Excluded
How Snob Zoning, NIMBYism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don't See
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
An indictment of America's housing policy that reveals the social engineering underlying our segregation by economic class, the social and political fallout that result, and what we can do about it
The last, acceptable form of prejudice in America is based on class and executed through state-sponsored economic discrimination, which is hard to see because it is much more subtle than raw racism.
While the American meritocracy officially denounces prejudice based on race and gender, it has spawned a new form of bias against those with less education and income. Millions of working-class Americans have their opportunity blocked by exclusionary snob zoning. These government policies make housing unaffordable, frustrate the goals of the civil rights movement, and lock in inequality in our urban and suburban landscapes.
Through moving accounts of families excluded from economic and social opportunity as they are hemmed in through “new redlining” that limits the type of housing that can be built, Richard Kahlenberg vividly illustrates why America has a housing crisis. He also illustrates why economic segregation matters since where you live affects access to transportation, employment opportunities, decent health care, and good schools. He shows that housing choice has been socially engineered to the benefit of the affluent, and, that astonishingly the most restrictive zoning is found in politically liberal cities where racial views are more progressive.
Despite this there is hope. Kahlenberg tells the inspiring stories of growing number of local and national movements working to tear down the walls that inflicts so much damage on the lives of millions of Americans.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kahlenberg (coauthor, A Smarter Charter), a researcher on education and housing policy, argues in this comprehensive study that "state-sponsored economic discrimination" has replaced racial discrimination as the main contributor to residential segregation in America. According to Kahlenberg, when affluent, often liberal communities prohibit accessory dwelling units, impose density restrictions, require housing to be built on large lots, set onerous parking requirements, and impose other "exclusionary zoning" regulations, they help maintain racial segregation and prevent lower-income families from moving into neighborhoods with good schools and into cities with employment opportunities. To remedy the problem, Kahlenberg advocates for the Economic Fair Housing Act, which would make it "illegal for government zoning to discriminate on the basis of income"; calls on the federal government to commit more money to subsidizing the construction of affordable housing; and draws hope from successful efforts in California, Oregon, and Charlotte, N.C., to replace single-family zoning with zoning that allows for multifamily housing units. Kahlenberg persuasively addresses concerns from both the right and the left, and stuffs the book with an abundance of research. It's a valuable guide to fixing one of America's most enduring social ills.