ANTI‐SNOB LAND USE LAWS,SUBURBAN EXCLUSION,AND HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

ABSTRACT: Creating housing opportunities in exclusionary suburbs for lower‐income households is an essential component of any effort to reduce the concentration of the poor and minorities in central cities. Three New England states have adopted anti‐snob land use laws in an effort to promote the development of more affordable housing in the suburbs. Those laws limit the ability of local government to use its power over land use and development permitting to effectively exclude housing that lower‐income households can afford. This research describes how those laws relate to other efforts to open the suburbs, how the laws work, and what impact adoption of the laws has had on the supply of affordable housing in exclusionary municipalities.