ELIMINATING EXCLUSIONARY ZONING
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OUR GOAL
We will eliminate exclusionary zoning and segregation in San Diego by passing intentional, community-led policies that will advance inclusive, equitable, and sustainable housing practices in the city.
We will organize a coalition of value-aligned organizations and individuals who advocate for and shape policies that will dismantle historically segregationist zoning policies in the city of San Diego. Eliminating segregation will require unraveling the fundamentally unjust and exclusionary practices built into our housing policies. We must take ownership over the reshaping of our future.
OUR PLAN
We will begin working towards our goal by eliminating minimum lot sizes in single-unit residential zoned areas across the city. Minimum lot sizes were created to exclude residents by driving up housing prices through land cost, and it still accomplishes this segregationist goal today. This policy also contributes to environmentally damaging sprawl and growing burden on city resources.
The impacts of this policy lead to consequences that cause disproportionate harm to non-white, under resourced, and historically marginalized communities. We want to see community-informed policy to eliminate minimum lot size and related development restrictions like minimum lot dimensions and maximum floor area ratios.
OUR TIME TO ACT
We must act now to eliminate minimum lot size and reshape single-unit residential zones. Single-unit residential zoning was created to preserve and continue segregation, and still makes up 81% of our residentially zoned land in San Diego. Eliminating minimum lot size in these zones is an essential first step to reduce the harms these policies were implemented to create. It will finally allow for the creation of denser, more diverse for-sale housing in our city.
While new homes may still be expensive, a recent study found the policy has the potential to reduce average new-sale townhome prices by up to 40%. Newer, more attainable housing also serves to reduce the cost-pressure of older homes, making them more affordable for first-time homebuyers. In the face of major budget deficits, the reports also found it could significantly increase property tax revenue needed to support our city's growing needs.
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HOUSING SEGREGATION
A TIMELINE
First recorded racial covenant
1843
1910
First racial-zoning ordinance
First single-unit only residential zoning ordinance
1916
1917
Buchanan v. Warley rules racial-zoning unconstitutional
San Diego adopts single-unit only residential zoning ordinance
1923
1926
Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. rules single-unit only zoning constitutional
Corrigan v. Buckley upheld racial covenants
1926
1934
Federal Housing Administration adopts red-lined maps
Second Great Migration of Black Americans begins
1940
1948
Shelley v. Kramer rules racial covenants unconstitutional
Fair Housing Act passes making racially explicit forms of housing discrimination illegal
1968
1970
From 1940 to 1970 the percentage of municipalities with minimum lot size restrictions grows from 20% to 79%
94% of municipalities have minimum lot size restrictions
2019
2019
Berkeley researchers find 81% of municipalities are more segregated in 2019 than they were in 1990
San Diego
will eliminate minimum lot size restrictions
2026
Join Us.
Eliminating minimum lot size is only a first step, and it is long overdue. San Diego must act swiftly and intentionally to eliminate policies preserving severe racial and class segregation in our city. We are fighting century old exclusionary policies, and we can't do it alone. We need you to join us in the fight to eliminate segregation.
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