Objectives of Inclusionary Zoning

In general, inclusionary zoning policies attempt to fulfill two objectives:

Objective 1: To ease the housing cost burden on low-income households residing in moderate-to-high-income communities. Many municipalities contain more low-income households (defined as those falling beneath the affordability threshold of 60% or 80% of the area median income for renters and owners, respectively) than "affordable units" to house them. As a result, some lower income residents can be defined as "housing cost burdened". In this case, inclusionary zoning may reduce the disparity between the affordable housing supply and household demand. This objective primarily affects current residents of less-affordable communities.

Objective 2: To remove affordability barriers in communities with low supplies of affordable housing. Inclusionary zoning started as a way to counteract "exclusionary" policies that prevented the mixing of incomes in some communities. Residents that had been priced out of certain neighborhoods and municipalities could seek affordable housing in a wider range of communities by requiring affordable set-asides. Ideally, this would have the dual effect of increasing housing choice in both high and low-income communities as affordable housing would be more evenly distributed and the concentration and pockets of affordable housing would be reduced.