Single-family zoning

Single-family zoning is a type of planning restriction applied to certain residential zones in the United States and Canada in order to restrict development to only allow single-family detached homes. It disallows townhomes, duplexes, and multifamily housing (apartments) from being built on any plot of land with this zoning designation.

It is a form of exclusionary zoning, and emerged as a way to keep minorities out of white neighborhoods. Single-family zoning both increases the cost of housing units and decreases the supply. During the 20th century, many advanced European and North American cities introduced restrictions on dense forms of housing, subsidizing single-family housing. In many United States cities, 75% of land zoned for residential uses is zoned single-family. Amid worsening housing crises in many cities, YIMBY movements and urbanists have become increasingly potent political forces, pushing for upzoning of areas exclusively preserved for single-family housing.

Beginning in the late 2010's, many cities across the United States have started looking at reforming their land-use regulations, particularly single-family zoning, in attempts to solve their housing shortages and reduce the racial inequities which arise from housing segregation. These upzoning efforts would not require that new housing types be built in a neighborhood, it merely allows for flexibility in options. For example, changing a single family zoning district to a multifamily residential zoning district would not mandate single family detached homes be converted, nor would it prohibit new single family homes, it would just allow owners of those single family detached homes to subdivide their property, or owners of empty lots to build something other than a single family home.