For decades, the middle-class towns of single-family homes that ring many American cities have used zoning laws to ensure they stay much like they looked in the suburban boom after World War II.
Apartment buildings in many places are simply not allowed, an exclusion that — intentionally or not — has historically also kept out people of color.
Facing housing shortages, several states and the U.S. government have tried to break through those barriers with a mix of methods, including giving municipalities homebuilding goals or overriding certain local zoning restrictions.
In New York, one such proposal from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has run into howls of opposition in one of the birthplaces of the American suburb. Critics on Long Island, a sprawling expanse of communities home to 2.9 million people, are denouncing provisions that would set growth targets, drive denser development near train stations and sometimes let state officials override local zoning decisions.
“Her plan would flood YOUR neighborhood with THOUSANDS of new apartments” reads one opposition mailing. Others warn Long Island would become New York City’s “sixth borough.” Critics, many of them Republican officials, claim it would strip away local control.
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