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Thesis advisor: Geoffrey Sanzenbacher / Racial housing discrimination in the United States has created systemic segregation which precludes black Americans from living in the well-resourced suburbs of their white counterparts. Certain housing policies such as inclusionary zoning (IZ), a policy that offers real estate developers incentives in exchange for the creation of affordable housing, seek to counteract these injustices. Research on inclusionary zoning thus far has proven the policy’s effectiveness in providing low-income groups access to high-performing schools in low-poverty neighborhoods, increasing children’s academic and long-term economic outcomes. However, sparse research exists which examines if inclusionary zoning provides access to low-poverty settings specifically for black Americans, a goal that should be a priority for housing policies intended to make communities inclusive. Using data on inclusionary zoning policies from the Lincoln Institute and IPUMS NHGIS decennial census data, this study employs a difference in difference regression to analyze the changes in racial and socioeconomic composition of 420 jurisdictions across the United States as a result of their implementation of an IZ policy. This paper finds that while the effects on a jurisdiction’s socioeconomic makeup are minimal, the implementation of an inclusionary zoning policy does significantly increase the percentage of black residents. When controlling for policy characteristics (i.e. whether a policy is mandatory, and what range of income it serves), IZ policies can increase the percentage of black residents by more than 0.8% over 10 years. However, this study also finds that when IZ policies are implemented voluntarily, without regard to the income range served or the location of the affordable units, the policies can have an adverse effect on the black population. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

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The world is observing unprecedented, devastating, yet growing effects of climate change. GDP has been slow for decades; Covid-19 has disturbed the economy; energy prices are rising; unemployment remains high; consumer debt and budget deficit are climbing; wealth inequality is at an all-time high. Still, 89% of the energy consumed in the United States comes from non-renewable sources. Amid this challenging time, the question this work tries to answer is how can we protect our climate and environment through innovative development policies and practices that concurrently promote social equity and preserve economic viability? To answer this question, I explore five sustainable housing goals: climate protection, policy innovation, environmental protection, social equity, and economic growth. I use data and empirical analysis to show sustainable development challenges and conflicts are significant. I share lessons learned from cities and states that act as pioneers of climate and environmental protection; I explore a balanced integration of economic, environmental, and social goals through zero-energy building in the traditionally siloed policy sector of low-income housing; I show that a lack of consideration for social equity can turn environmental initiatives into luxury goods that surrender equity to profitability; I show that a lack of consideration for economic viability can lead to underinvestment in environmental and social equity initiatives. The overall insights derived from this study suggest that state housing agencies and local governments, particularly in large cities and in communities that are more vulnerable to environmental risks, are in a unique position to stimulate and drive climate and environmental protection. Significant between-agency differences in housing policy innovation persist, and future policy innovation research should explore factors that impact the utility of policy innovation and barriers the environmental sustainability movement faces at the organization level and beyond. Existing challenges to distributed energy generation need further study. This research highlights the need for greater policy attention to affordable housing needs in core urban areas, neighborhood diversity, and costs of gentrification. / Doctor of Philosophy / The world is now observing unprecedented, devastating, yet growing effects of climate change. Covid-19 has slowed the economy; energy prices are rising; unemployment remains high; consumer debt and budget deficit are climbing, and wealth inequality has reached an all-time high. While renewable energy is rapidly growing in worldwide adoption, still 89% of the energy consumed in the United States comes from non-renewable sources. Sustainability thinking encourages integrated, interdisciplinary approaches and policies that holistically address multiple contemporary problems. Sustainable development requires a balanced integration of economic, environmental, and social justice goals with traditionally siloed policy sectors, such as housing, as a goal of governance. Policy integration is deemed necessary because some policy sectors – like environment and climate – alone are not capable of achieving all objectives and, thus, must work with other sectors. Despite the importance of sustainability to the future of the planet, there are inherent economic, environmental, and social justice conflicts involved in reaching sustainable development, and conflict resolution has not been easy. The overarching question in this work is how can we protect our climate and environment through innovative housing policies and practices that promote social equity and preserve economic viability? I explore five glocal sustainable housing goals, namely climate protection, policy innovation, environmental protection, social equity, and economic growth. The overall insights derived from this study suggest that state housing agencies and local governments, particularly in large cities and in communities vulnerable to environmental risks, are in a unique position to stimulate and drive climate and environmental protection. Significant between-agency differences in housing policy innovation persist, and future policy innovation research should explore factors that impact the utility of policy innovation and barriers the environmental sustainability movement faces at the organization level and beyond. This research highlights the need for greater policy attention to affordable housing needs in core urban areas, neighborhood diversity, and costs of gentrification. There are barriers to distributed energy generation that need to be studied.

Zoning, as a public land-use tool, has several important goals. As zoning accomplishes these goals, however, zoning has had the unintended outcome of guiding high numbers of minorities into certain areas in which multi-family housing is permitted. This study attempts to understand the connection that zoning has with racial and ethnic distribution within and across jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C. MSA. By using GIS to spatially connect zoning districts to Census data, I analyzed correlations between minority populations and zoning district regulations. For all locations studied, I found that proportions of minority population generally increase as zoning districts permit higher-intensity residential uses. Minority populations often increased as the density permitted by zoning districts increased, although there were many exceptions to this trend, most notably in the central city where minority populations did not directly correlate with zoning density. In all cases, however, low-density, single-family zoning districts had higher white populations than other, higher-density zoning districts. Zoning was shown to have the greatest correlation with minority populations in jurisdictions undergoing significant population growth, particularly minority population growth. The study shows that racially-segregated neighborhoods exist across a variety of zoning types, including low-density, single-family districts, but that segregation is more abundant within zoning districts that permit higher-intensity uses and higher-densities. White isolation was found to be greatest in low-density, single-family zoning districts. Although there is a clear connection between zoning regulations and minority population settlement, zoning density does not perfectly correlate with minority population and racially-segregated areas. Many higher-density zoning districts throughout the study area have high white populations and high levels of white clustering. Conversely, high minority populations and minority clustering occur to significant extents in parts of single-family zoning districts, particularly in Washington and Prince George's County. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

The Monitoring Program for all Inclusionary housing units in the City of San Luis Obispo is a needed component to the Affordable Housing Program. It ensures eligible households are occupying the affordable units and those that are renting are being charged according to the Affordable Housing Standards. Within the City’s Municipal Code it specifies monitoring and management of inclusionary units shall be done, however this hasn’t happened until now. This professional project provides a needed analysis of the current affordable housing stock. It examines multiple case studies that look at exemplary designed affordable housing units as well as implemented monitoring programs, which serve as a guide to the City of San Luis Obispo’s monitoring program. An extensive assessment survey was administered to all the inclusionary units within the City of San Luis Obispo that included some questions pertaining to the quality and design of the current units, location to local services, primary mode of transportation and miles traveled to work. The analysis of the survey responses were compiled into different analyzed categories: overall, senior, owner and renter. The analysis information and monitoring program procedures manual were completed as deliverables to the City of San Luis Obispo. The project concludes with recommendations for future affordable housing developments and toolkits, including the monitoring program procedures manual, to help with preservation of the current housing stock and ensure quality and sustainable affordable housing projects.

The current housing crisis in Sweden affects more municipalities today than ever before. There is a high demand for all type of tenures and the housing shortage is primarily evident in the metropolitan cities. Sweden has during the last 15 year focused on building for high-income households, with the vision to create migratory chains providing other society groups with housing as well. The migratory chains unfortunately often become significantly short and the housing shortage remains for low-income households. Municipalities are now facing an unsustainable situation, with an urgent need to resolve the situation for low-income households. This needs to be performed without the stigmatization and segregation that clusters of only affordable housing brings. A Swedish pilot project, RiverCity, including affordable housing through inclusionary zoning is currently under development in Frihamnen, Gothenburg. The first phase of the RiverCity that will be completed is called "RiverCity 2021" and includes parts of Frihamnen and Ringön. The completion will coincide with Gothenburg's 400th anniversary in 2021.There are ongoing discussion, and some factors regarding rent setting and distribution of the affordable housing units are not yet determined. It is a new, interesting and innovative development project that has not yet been studied, and therefore considered suitable for a Master of Science thesis project. The thesis and case study was conducted through a qualitative inductive research approach, with a case study of the pilot project in Frihamnen, Gothenburg. The study indicates a high level of innovation among the actors to fulfill the requirements for the assignment of a land allocation. The impression is that the aktors are keen to determine criteria that ensure that the apartments are distributed to households without the financial ability to afford a lease in a new construction building. Inclusionary zoning and requirements in land allocation to develop affordable housing seems to be a prerequisite for the current development of affordable housing. The study provides a basis for further research on the outcomes of the current plans in the future. / Den nuvarande bostadsbristen i Sverige drabbar fler kommuner idag än någonsin tidigare. Efterfrågan på alla boendeformer är hög och bristen på bostäder är framförallt tydlig i storstäderna. De senaste 15 åren har Sverige fokuserat på att bygga för hushåll med relativt hög inkomst, med avsikten att skapa flyttkedjor som i sin tur förser övriga grupper i samhället med bostäder. Flyttkedjorna blir tyvärr ofta korta och bostadsbristen kvarstår för hushåll med lägre inkomster. Kommunerna befinner sig idag i en ohållbar situation; hushåll med lägre inkomster måste akut förses med bostäder, samtidigt som den segregation och sociala stigmatisering som kluster av billiga bostäder för med sig bör undvikas. Ett svenskt pilotprojekt, Älvstaden, som inkluderar affordable housing-lägenheter bland lägenheter med marknadshyror är just nu under utveckling i Frihamnen, Göteborg. Byggstart av den första etappen, Älvstaden 2021, är planerad till 2017 med färdigställande till Göteborgs 400 års jubileum år 2021. En del faktorer angående hyressättning och fördelning av affordable housing-lägenheterna är inte fastställda och diskussion pågår fortfarande. Projektet är innovativt och väldigt intressant för bostadssituationen i Sverige, samt har inte analyserats ännu, vilket tillsammans motiverar en kvalitativ fallstudie av projektet som ämne för denna master uppsats. Studien indikerar på hög innovation ibland de utvalda aktörerna för att uppfylla de krav som ställts i markanvisningarna. Intrycket är att aktörerna är måna om att utforma kriterier som gör att lägenheterna fördelas till hushåll utan ekonomiska förutsättningar för att klara en nyproduktionshyra som inte är subventionerad. Inclusionary zoning och krav i markanvisning om att utveckla affordable housing verkar vara en förutsättning för utveckling av affordable housing. Studien utgör en grund för vidare forskning kring utfallet av de nuvarande planerna i framtiden.