Birthplace of Single-Family Zoning Poised to Pass Upzoning Plan

In 1916, Berkeley, California, became the first city to pass a single-family zoning law. But now, nearly a century later, the city is poised to reverse that historic — and consequential — decision, “joining other cities around the country overturning the regulations in a growing push to combat shortages and spur multifamily development,” according to a CoStar article by David Holtzman. The city council voted back in 2021 to begin the process of updating the city code to eliminate most of the city’s single-family zoning district and ”was on the cusp of approving plans last month … until a vote on the measure was delayed due to a procedural matter. But local officials expect the council to pass [the plan] in October,” the article reads. Under the new ordinance, 10 houses will be allowed per acre in the former single-family zoning district, while density in other zoning districts is expected to change to allow 20 houses per acre.

Single-family zoning refers to zoning policy that restricts development in an area to single family homes. Originally touted as a way to preserve home values and maintain public health and safety, the original measure was proposed by the developer of the Elmwood neighborhood, who wanted to preserve home values in his development by preventing Black families from moving into adjacent areas. Since then, it has a history of being used as a segregationist tool to control the demographics of an area, which — combined with minimum lot sizes — has prevented more affordable homes and multi-unit buildings on small lots, contributing to our current housing affordability crisis.

For more on the history and impacts of single-family zoning, check out our Planopedia article: What Is Single-Family Zoning?

“I’m not proud that Berkeley was the first city in the U.S. to pass single-family zoning,” Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin said at the city council’s meeting last month, the CoStar article reports. “We see the outcomes to this day in racial disparities perpetuated by exclusionary zoning.”

“Berkeley, like other U.S. cities, is dealing with a local housing crunch, and it tweaked local zoning codes last year to allow for the construction of taller multifamily developments near the University of California, Berkeley, campus, potentially adding thousands of units,” Holtzman writes. The elimination of single-family zoning will also help Berkeley meet a state mandate to build 9,000 new homes by 2031.

The article acknowledges that “California technically ended single-family zoning statewide when Gov. Gavin Newsom passed legislation in 2022 that enabled single-family properties to be subdivided to allow up to four new houses on lots where only one was previously permitted. However, the law has resulted in limited new development thus far and has faced legal challenges from local governments.” The proposed plan in Berkeley will allow for even more density than state law requires. Once it is official, Berkeley will join the ranks of governments across the country that have abolished single-family zoning, including cities like Minneapolis, Sacramento, Austin, Charlotte, Portland, and Gainesville; counties like Arlington County, Virginia; and states like California and Vermont.