Proponents of single family zoning in berekely in 1916 were explicitly racist. It was a way for them to exclude black people from town, and at the time housing segregation by race was both legal and common. This is quite well known.
Probably not directly, but it has that effect by proxy and the initial segregationist motivation is still in force. It's 2021 but the divides in wealth, living standards, outcomes, etc... still echo the racial divisions of the past. Hundreds of years of societal conditioning will take hundreds of years to fully revert.
The zoning laws also have a similar effect on those who are priced out by wealth & income, regardless of race, leading to rich enclaves & poor ghettos. These are harmful to society as a whole, which benefits from heterogeneity.
No, it's probably classism instead. Mandating that people rent or own a minimum amount of land means that you can keep poorer sorts out of the neighborhood, which also means their kids don't go to your schools.
It's gated communities, enforced by the government. And proponents want to act like it's morally acceptable because...democracy, or something? As if the fact that people democratically voted on something always means they're right.
If segregation was legal and common, why would racists even need to resort to single family zoning to accomplish their goals of excluding people of color?
Did they anticipate the end of segregation and require multiple fallback methods of exclusion?
