Advocacy
Advocates all over the country – housing groups, think tanks, and private individuals alike – have used the National Zoning Atlas to push for change at the state and local levels. Here are some examples showing different ways the Atlas have been used for advocacy.
the “MONTANA MIRACLE” MAkes Room For Missing middle housing
When asked to join a new Housing Task Force to develop policy recommendations addressing the state’s intensifying post-pandemic housing shortage, Montana-based think tank, Frontier Institute, completed a zoning atlas covering the state’s 13-fastest growing cities. The atlas dataset enabled the team to rank cities’ restrictiveness of “missing middle” housing, ADUs, and by-right development permissions, revealing that zoned areas disproportionately favored single-family units with minimum lot sizes while penalizing duplexes, triplexes, or affordability mandates. This work soon blossomed into an extensive campaign to educate Montanans on the role restrictive zoning plays in constricting the addition of much-needed housing options. Their atlas findings and advocacy efforts went on to inform a sweeping package of pro-housing zoning reforms designed to combat exclusionary barriers to multi-family and ADU construction, promote public participation in land use decisions, and streamline the building permit process. The package, met with bipartisan support, passed by the State Legislature in Spring 2023.
"Our Montana Zoning Atlas provides leaders with actionable data about harmful zoning practices that make it difficult—if not outright illegal—to build affordable starter homes like duplexes in Montana cities,” said Kendall Cotton, President & CEO of Frontier Institute. “The Atlas's visual, easy to use data clearly demonstrates to lawmakers that people aren't just getting priced out of Montana cities, they are being zoned out.”
Montana Govenor Gianforte alongside members of the state Housing Task Forace at a rally for zoning reforms in March 2023. Photo courtesy of the State of Montana Newsroom.
Video component of Frontier Institute’s successful campaign to enact statewide zoning reform.
A Historic Rewrite of How Connecticut Zones
Sara Bronin and the housing advocacy group, DesegregateCT, debuted the first-ever zoning for atlas for Connecticut in early 2021. Among its many hair-raising findings, the atlas exposed that over 90 percent of land in Connecticut allows single-family homes by-right compared with 2 percent that allows homes with 4 or more units; secondary research went on to reveal further correlations between zoning and statewide disparities in housing affordability, income distribution, and racial segregation.
After a year-long, coalition-driven legislative campaign, DesegregateCT and their partners celebrated the passage of Public Act 21-29 (aka HB 6107) in May 2021. The bill focused on: centering equity (such as “affirmatively furthering fair housing”) in zoning regulations, expanding legalization of ADUs, capping parking requirements, promoting transit-oriented development, and eliminating code terminology that may be construed as racist or exclusionary. These components were a response to the social, economic, and environmental issues raised by the original zoning atlas.
An 2021 Instagram post from DesegregateCT’s campaign in support of HB6107.
First-Time homebuyers Speak out in New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Zoning Atlas, coordinated by a team led by the St. Anselm College Center for Ethics in Society, released the first round of New Hampshire zoning data in Spring 2023. After encountering the atlas, New Hampshire native Zoey Lackie submitted an op-ed to a local news outlet relaying how the atlas informed her that restrictive zoning is a factor inhibiting her family from affording a house in their hometown. She advocates for lawmakers to revisit such policies.
“In Dublin there is a four-acre minimum lot size per single family house. As one can imagine, the rate of young families living in Dublin is in steep decline. Many other small towns in New Hampshire have a minimum lot size anywhere from two to five acres,” wrote Lackie in her op-ed. “While I can appreciate the beauty that comes with small town neighborhoods with large yards, I’m increasingly disheartened by the lack of opportunity for other young families.”
Map from the NH Zoning Atlas story map that indicates a majority of the state prohibits the construction of small lot single-family homes.
A Tool for Public Education in Vermont
Staff from the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development were invited to present at a community lecture series exploring the state's efforts to address housing affordability and availability. The presenters showcased the in-process Vermont Zoning Atlas to demonstrate the limited availability of zoning allowing for single-family homes on small lots (lots smaller than one-quarter acre). This visual cue highlighted the prevalence of large lot sizes in Vermont, which the presenters pointed out contributes to “sprawl and car dependency, and creates neighborhoods that are less welcoming for a diverse range of people.”
An Atlas view of North-Western Vermont indicating the lack of single-family zoning allowed on lot sizes smaller than one-quarter of an acre.
A “Catalyst” For Public Support of Housing-friendly Zoning
Four months after the release of the New Hampshire Zoning Atlas, the St. Anselm College’s Center for Ethics in Society released results from their annual survey gauging New Hampshire residents’ attitudes towards the state’s housing climate. Respondents reported not only a overwhelming demand for more affordable housing, but distinguished their responses from prior years in demonstrating a heightened understanding of the role restrictive zoning plays in limiting housing options: 60 percent of polled voters supported municipalities adjusting their ordinances to allow for more housing.
“These most recent polling numbers reflect that New Hampshire is becoming aware that fixing the housing shortage is a matter of urgency, even a moral imperative,” said Max Latona, Executive Director of St. Anselm College’s Center for Ethics in Society.
Still from a WMUR9 story covering the Center for Ethics in Society’s zoning survey.
Neighborhood groups Advocate for ADUs
In Milford, Connecticut, onerous regulations surrounding accessory dwelling units (ADUs) restricted their occupancy to blood relatives and forbade the collection of rents. Local advocates, including Rachel Merva of All in for Milford, discovered the Connecticut Zoning Atlas when organizing efforts to amend these rules. The group shared images from the atlas to illustrate how Milford's ADU restrictions were harsher than those in surrounding communities, ultimately persuading their local zoning board to relax the restrictions.
“I really can’t underscore enough the importance this zoning map had in the education and decision making process for Milford,” Merva said in an email. “I am incredibly proud, as are all the supporters, that this tool was available and made such an impact!”
Town-specific info sheets for accessory dwelling units developed by DesegregateCT.