Low-Density Zoning, Health, and Health Equity
Brief
Michael Lens
September 2021
Research has long established important connections between housing and health, operating through at least four pathways: housing stability, housing quality and safety, neighborhood characteristics, and affordability. Recent housing research and debates have increasingly emphasized the effect of zoning and land use regulations on (primarily) the latter two pathways. This brief summarizes the role that low-density residential zoning might play in health outcomes and health equity, given the plausible effects that local land use decisions have on housing affordability, segregation, and disparities in the neighborhood environment.
