Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The housing affordability literature has had much to say on the underlying trends and influences on housing affordability over time. However today there remain only a few studies that examine the influence of exclusionary land-use regulation on housing affordability. Even more uncommon is a focus on the impact of suburban regulation on central city housing affordability. Exclusionary land use regulation may have additional effects on housing affordability beyond simply raising the cost of housing by placing constraints on supply expansion. It may reduce affordability by restricting access to affordable housing in metropolitan job centers, which are increasingly based in the suburbs, inhibiting employment and consequently income growth and mobility for low-income households. Utilizing a cross-sectional regression design analyzing Wharton Residential Land Use Regulation Survey data, land use regulation survey data developed by Pendall, Puentes, and Martin (2006), and 2005-2009 American Community Survey data, this study illuminates the impact of several kinds of exclusionary land use regulation in suburban jurisdictions on corresponding central city housing affordability.