The New Redlining: How Progressive Policies Restrict the Development of Housing Supply and Perpetuate America's Racist Property Law Past

Authors

• Steve P. Calandrillo, University of Washington School of Law
• Kelsey Dunn

Abstract

Recent scholarship has exposed America’s racist property law past. During the twentieth century, decades of deliberate state-sponsored discrimination (i.e., Redlining) made homeownership—and the accumulation of wealth—more difficult for people of color. In 1948, the Supreme Court outlawed these practices in the seminal case, Shelley v. Kraemer. However, the damage had been done, and it has proven to be long-lasting. Redlining slowed economic mobility for people of color and exacerbated the racial wealth gap. As a result, America is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis that disproportionately impacts people of color.

Readers well-versed in economics and public policy know that the solution to this crisis is relatively simple: build as much housing as possible, as fast as possible. However, local governments have failed to heed this common sense remedy to boost supply. Restrictive zoning rules—such as single-family zoning—limit neighborhood density. Meanwhile, development fees and regulatory delays disincentivize new construction and skew development that does occur toward luxury projects. Indeed, some of these laws and regulations are passed by well-intentioned progressives seeking to “stick it” to capitalistic developers. However, by hindering development, these policies only serve to exacerbate the affordable housing crisis and perpetuate the racial wealth gap. As such, these policies must be called out for what they really are: the “New Redlining.”

This Article unapologetically advocates for the abolition of the New Redlining. Local governments must eliminate the laws and regulations that hinder the development of adequate housing supply. However, from a pragmatic perspective, this Article also recognizes that—given the desires of local officials to retain control—the implementation of the necessary reforms will need to occur at the local level. Therefore, instead of prescribing broad pieces of preemptive legislation, this Article advocates for an innovative approach: the adoption of permitting processes and appeals systems that prevent cities from unduly rejecting or delaying affordable housing development (i.e., housing appeals statutes). In effect, this approach will make the New Redlining far more difficult for cities to get away with.

Recommended Citation

Steve P. Calandrillo and Kelsey Dunn, The New Redlining: How Progressive Policies Restrict the Development of Housing Supply and Perpetuate America's Racist Property Law Past, 77 Fla. L. Rev. 1085 (2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol77/iss3/5