Minorities And Poor Harmed By Anti-Sprawl Policies

Policies to combat sprawl penalize minorities, the poor, urban families and the young, says a new econometrics report being released at a November 21 Washington policy conference by the Center for Environmental Justice of The National Center for Public Policy Research. Moreover, such policies do not generate the expected environmental benefits.The study, "Smart Growth and Its Effects on Housing Markets: The New Segregation," used as a baseline the "smart growth" policies of Portland, Oregon, considered by many the nation's best, and asked: if cities nationwide had adopted these policies ten years ago, how would America's most disadvantaged populations been affected?The study also examines the impact of sprawl restrictions on commuting times, congestion, the need for new infrastructure and the preservation of "green" space. Editor's note: This link is to a 1MB PDF file.

Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism\