Residential Zoning by Race:

How Pittsburgh’s Zoning Districts Promote Different Housing Options for Black and White Residents

Part 9: Conclusion

by Carolyn Ristau

As multi-family zoning districts have decreased in their total land area in Pittsburgh over the last 100 years, they have increasingly concentrated in Black and other non-White neighborhoods. These areas also have a strong correlation to the areas of the city that were graded C “Definitely Declining” and D “Hazardous” by the Homeowner’s Loan Corporation in 1937.

While multi-family zoning districts allow a wider range of housing options than single-family zoning districts in Pittsburgh, they also reduce the options for homeownership and the related ability to build equity. Based on the results of this research, Pittsburgh’s current zoning districts are funneling White residents toward the option of a single-family dwelling as either homeowner or renter, while Black and other non-White residents are increasingly funneled toward rental and multi-unit housing options.

Policy changes beyond reforming the exclusive single-family zoning district will be needed to address the inequalities created by the locations of single-family and multi-family zoning districts.

Sources

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Mervosh, Sarah. “Minneapolis, Tackling Housing Crisis and Inequity, Votes to End Single-Family Zoning.” The New York Times, December 13, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/us/minneapolis-single-family-zoning.html

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Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Accessed February 2022. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=5/39.1/-94.58&text=downloads

Steven Manson, Jonathan Schroeder, David Van Riper, Tracy Kugler, and Steven Ruggles. IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 17.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS. 2022. http://doi.org/10.18128/D050.V17.0

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