WHATEVER HAPPENED TO RACIAL INTEGRATION AFTER THE ENACTMENT OF ANTI-SNOB ZONING

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briv

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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO RACIAL INTEGRATION AFTER THE ENACTMENT OF ?ANTI-SNOB ZONING
Public Lecture
? 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM 04/08/2008

Harvard Kennedy School, Taubman Building, 5th Floor, Nye A, 15 Eliot St.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 from 3:00-5:00 pm, Kennedy School, Taubman Building, 5th Floor, Nye A

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO RACIAL INTEGRATION AFTER THE ENACTMENT OF ?ANTI-SNOB ZONING" LAWS? SOME LESSONS FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS, CONNECTICUT, AND RHODE ISLAND EXPERIENCE

Sharon Krefetz, Associate Professor of Government and Director of the Urban Development and Social Change Program, Clark University

Cosponsored with Fair Housing of Greater Boston and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston

Open to the public
For more information, contact:
Elizabeth England (eengland@gsd.harvard.edu)

Sponsored By:
Joint Center for Housing Studies
 
Is integration even the goal anymore? I thought it was all about multiculturalism now? And although I'm confused over what exactly multiculturalism means, one thing for sure is that it ain't integration. Integration is/was an attempt to integrate minorities into so-called "mainstream" American culture. Multiculturalism is allowing cultures to retain their identity and stay distinct. I think America is caught between these two positions right now and doesn't know what to believe. My guess is that if we decide to go with multiculturalism, anti-snob zoning will be a thing of the past and the future will be "localization," i.e., an attempt to grant greater political power and autonomy to local populations.
 
do anti-snob zoning laws work for any purpose? pffft.
 
Yes 40b has worked, there are a few much needed apartment complexes in Billerica that would not have been built otherwise.
 
a drop in the bucket. and a very difficult drop that doesn't even directly address the route of the problem: overall housing supply.
 
Isn't 40b the law that allows developers to build higher density developments than the local zoning allows?

How does that not directly address overall housing supply?
 
a630 said:
a drop in the bucket. and a very difficult drop that doesn't even directly address the route of the problem: overall housing supply.
Click to expand...
Have you looked at MLS or Redfin lately? Mass has houses coming out of its ears. Those who complain about high prices in Massachusetts are really just whining that they don't get to live in Concord or Lincoln. There are plenty of affordable houses in Lynn and tons of other towns.
 
You are right. People could buy a huge condo in Lowell in a very safe artists community for well under $200,000 but that just isn't as sexy as Boston, Dover or even Billerica.

30 Years
Interest rate: 6.000%
Loan amount: $ 200,000.00
$ 1,199.10 a month

If you can't afford that you need get on the list for the projects.
 
Of course there's affordable housing in Massachusetts. But is it a competitive housing market overall? No. This has been a chronic problem outlasting at least two housing bubbles already. A lot of people give up on Billerica and head for Raleigh, we know this. A non-competitive housing market leads to domestic out-migration. If it wasn't for foreign immigration (and a tolerance for overcrowded rental units that are stagnant or shrinking in number, I'm sure), MA would shrink.
And how long will companies produce the higher wages that allow employees to tolerate a higher cost of living? I think 40B and 40R are a step in the right direction, yes, but they won't produce a competitive housing market.
 
40B won't do anything to keep people from moving south. Lets see, I can buy a 3 bedroom single family house in Raleigh, or this built on the cheap shitty 2 bedroom 40B condo in Mass. If anythng, 40B will chase people away because they're usually ugly as sin, and drive home the point that you'd be better off moving out of state. The problem isn't lack of supply, so of course that is what the government in their infinite wisdom concentrates on with 40b. I don't know why people move to Raleigh, but I bet is has to do with the fact that you can buy a cheap McMansion on an acre. Not gonna happen in Mass which has 400 years of development under its belt and is altready the 2nd most densely populated state. Maybe we should bulldone Everett, Revere, and Lynn and build McMansions on acre plots.
 
It's not Mcmansions that are cheaper in NC, it's everything. And MA has plenty of room for development, up and out.
40B allows developers to build at higher densities than zoning allows under the condition that 10% fo the community is 'not affordable' and that 20% of the development is 'affordable'. Why does this only partially address the problem? Because developers need to secure financing because they have to sell at below market rates (affordable btw means people earning under 80% of regional median income, middle class in other words). Because there are an infinite other amount of tools that any community can use, EIRs being a popular one. It's a density bonus in exchange for a particular, costly behavior, not free density.
 
The reason why people are moving to "raleigh" is because it is dirt cheap and you can use the money you made off the house you sold in Ma, and buy a new house, car and still have money left over. What city's and towns should do is raise height limits in downtowns and around mass transit in order to get more affordable housing built.
 
I still think people are going to think, I can either have a large single family house in the south, or live in a new "dense" condo in Mass and are going to pick the single family every time. At least people with families will.
 
^^^ it's working well in Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia. The problem is that Americans feel they need 1+ acre, 3 cars,and a swimming pool.
 
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