Zoning

Ilya Somin | 9.27.2024 2:37 PM

I recently posted substantially revised versions of two new articles on land use and property rights issues to SSRN. The first is "The Constitutional Case Against Exclusionary Zoning" (coauthored with Josh Braver, forthcoming in the Texas Law Review). Here is the abstract:

We argue that exclusionary zoning—the imposition of restrictions on the amount and types of housing that property owners are allowed to build— is unconstitutional because it violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Exclusionary zoning has emerged as a major political and legal issue. A broad cross-ideological array of economists and land-use scholars have concluded that it is responsible for massive housing shortages in many parts of the United States, thereby cutting off millions of people – particularly the poor and minorities—from economic and social opportunities. In the process, it also stymies economic growth and innovation, making the nation as a whole poorer.

Exclusionary zoning is permitted under Euclid v. Ambler Realty, the 1926 Supreme Court decision holding that........

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