> Back to Policy Demand: Inclusionary Zoning

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Inclusionary Zoning Makes Sense for New York City

Inclusionary zoning offers a timely, important, and financially viable opportunity to create thousands of units of affordable housing in NYC. Inclusionary zoning requires developers to include a modest percentage of affordable units when they build market-rate housing, in exchange for a density bonus allowing them to build a larger building.

The City of New York is planning for the rezoning and redevelopment of dozens of neighborhoods around the city. These public actions are projected to lead to the creation of more than 40,000 units of housing in the next 10 years, and more than 75,000 in total in the decades to come. However, evidence suggests that without a zoning mandate, nearly all of them will be market rate, far beyond the reach of most New Yorkers.

Unless the City of New York adopts a model of mandatory inclusionary zoning in the neighborhoods slated for rezoning and redevelopment, the opportunity to create affordable housing in mixed-income neighborhoods across the city may be lost forever. In addition, a voluntary version of inclusionary zoning also offers an attractive option for many other neighborhoods not slated for large-scale redevelopment, where residents would accept some additional density in exchange for affordable housing.

Zoning for affordable housing has been adopted by hundreds of municipalities around the country, including Boston, San Diego, and Chicago. Recent research indicates that inclusionary zoning does not dampen overall housing development (in fact, in some cases, it helps to increase it), and that mandatory programs produce more units at more diverse incomes than voluntary programs.