Inclusionary Housing

This article promotes the linking of inclusionary housing to the rezoning process and treating it explicitly as a vehicle for recapturing for public benefit some of the gain in land value resulting from public action. It explores the “incidence” controversy of how to address the costs of proving affordable below-market-rate housing without displacing them onto developers and homebuyers, and argues that local government incentives, including density bonuses, come at a public cost. In contrast, land value recapture through rezoning allows that value to be recaptured for the public benefit.