Single-Family Zoning Causes Harm, Manville Says

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Associate Professor of Urban Planning Michael Manville joined Detroit Today to discuss the effect of single-family zoning laws on wealth, access and opportunity. In most cities, the majority of residential land is zoned for single-family housing. By preventing non-single-family homes from being constructed in certain areas, Manville noted that single-family zoning hinders access to wealth for new, younger homebuyers, reinforces segregation and exacerbates issues of housing affordability. “My objection has nothing to do with single-family homes themselves,” Manville explained. “It’s the idea that you can have a law saying that nothing else can be built.” In metropolitan areas undergoing growth, single-family zoning drives up the minimum purchase price to be a part of the community, and this barrier has adverse consequences that fall disproportionately on low-income people and people of color. “Regardless of motivation, keeping these barriers in place causes harm, and we would do some good to remove them,” Manville concluded.

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Pierce Explores Inequitable Access to Drinking Water

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Gregory Pierce, co-director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, spoke to Capital & Main about how to help communities facing water quality challenges. A newly updated tap water database by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group includes drinking water data between 2014 and 2019 across all 50 states, illustrating wide disparities in water quality across systems. People living in underserved communities, especially in areas with high Black and Latino populations, face a disproportionate risk, the data showed. Pierce said the database provides an impressive translation of federal and state data and also raises wider questions, such as what alternatives are readily available to vulnerable communities facing water quality challenges. He noted that clear-cut answers are not always easy to come by, since bottled water is also associated with high costs and loose regulations. “Unless a system’s failing to meet the basic regulatory standards, I don’t think there’s a good case to say that bottled water is better,” Pierce said.

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U.S. Must Step Up and Provide Family Leave, Heymann Says

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Professor Jody Heymann joined PBS’ “News Hour” and NPR’s “On Point” to discuss the debate over national paid family leave in the United States. Democrats continue to haggle over a social spending bill, and a proposal to include paid leave remains in limbo. “Nearly the entire world offers paid leave,” with 181 out of 192 countries offering paid sick leave and 185 offering paid maternity leave, said Heymann, distinguished professor of public health, public policy and medicine. “We know that we can afford it,” she said. “It saves money because it makes people healthier,” lowering health care costs. For small businesses unable to bear the full burden of providing paid family leave for all their employees, “that’s what the social insurance system is for, and that’s how most of the world does it,” she said. As for the political forces at play, Heymann added, “Hearing from all Americans about what a difference this would make would be a good place to start.”

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Unionization Is Essential for Recovery, Diaz Says

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Sonja Diaz, executive director of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, co-authored a commentary in Latino Rebels about the need for union organization among Latino workers. Unions help alleviate the racial and ethnic pay gap by helping workers access non-discriminatory, collectively bargained contracts for the essential work that they do, Diaz wrote. “The benefits of unionization make it clear that economic recovery is not complete if workers aren’t given the opportunity to organize and demand better conditions, particularly given how essential many low-income service workers are to the economy,” she argued. A recent report found that Black and Latino workers in union jobs earned better wages and were less likely to lose their jobs and income during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to non-union workers. “Unionized jobs must pave the path forward to ensure that workers have the stability and economic resilience needed to withstand future crises,” she concluded.

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Pierce on Municipal Approaches to Heat

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Gregory Pierce, co-director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, co-authored an article in Planetizen discussing different cities’ approaches to addressing extreme heat. “People of color and those with lower incomes are disproportionately exposed to heat, and the largest health risks fall on seniors, young children and those with chronic conditions,” Pierce wrote. Climate change has led to an increase in heat-related deaths and hospitalizations. In a recent paper published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, Pierce and his co-authors analyzed surveys by California’s Office of Planning and Research to determine what factors influence whether municipalities actively plan for extreme heat and what kinds of heat-related planning and policy innovations they have adopted. The authors recommended making social equity a top priority in heat adaptation planning. They called for engaging with local communities and directing investments where they are needed most to eliminate thermal inequity.

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Goh Rethinks Emergency Preparedness

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In an interview with Curbed, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Kian Goh offered her input on developing climate adaptation plans to address increasingly frequent flooding in New York City. Nine years ago, Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc in the city, killing 44 people, destroying 70,000 homes and causing $19 billion in damage. New York City has had three major cloudburst-flooding events over the past two months, reigniting conversations about how to best prepare for inevitable future storms and flooding events. “It’s not a matter of resources, it’s a matter of planning,” Goh said. She highlighted the need to identify and address infrastructural inadequacies and rethink emergency preparedness. For example, the Dutch city Rotterdam has built “water squares” that serve as recreational spaces between buildings but can also be a place for stormwater during flooding events. “It’s about convincing engineers and maintenance crews and city budget officials that there’s a different way to do things,” Goh said.

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Park on Heat-Related Worker Injuries

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Assistant Professor of Public Policy R. Jisung Park was mentioned in an Agence France-Presse article about the impact of climate change on agricultural workers. Rising temperatures are increasingly threatening workers in the United States, resulting in greater health risks as well as negatively impacting performance. According to a recent study, 3 million workers in the United States experience at least one working week each year in temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Research shows that working in too much heat can cause fatigue, confusion, fainting and heat stroke. Park explained that, in California alone, “hotter temperatures may be causing upwards of tens of thousands of workplace injuries each year.” Increasing temperatures can result in decreased productivity and therefore loss of revenue, which impacts workers’ income. Experts recommend increasing worker protections, including access to shade, water and paid breaks, to protect the health and well-being of those in the workplace.

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Koslov on Social Causes of Climate Vulnerability

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Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Liz Koslov was featured in The City discussing a proposed voluntary buyout program for flood-prone houses in New York City. After Hurricane Sandy, many homeowners sold their properties back to the state through the Oakwood Beach buyout program. That successful effort was community-led and the housing stock was mostly single-family homes, Koslov said. Going forward, “a lot of the homes in the places that we now see are most at risk are also the most affordable,” she noted. Koslov pointed to social causes of climate vulnerability, including redlining and disinvestment, that cause people to live in those risky places in the first place. “If you’re just trying to un-build places that seem to be the most at risk, but you’re not addressing the underlying causes of that risk, which go far beyond climate change, it’s never going to satisfactorily or equitably reduce the risk that exists,” she said.

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Diaz on Mobilizing Voters Around Padilla

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Sonja Diaz, executive director of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, was featured in a Politico article discussing the importance of maximizing voter turnout in the 2022 midterm elections. Democrats are hoping to leverage the popularity of Sen. Alex Padilla, California’s first Latino senator, to increase voter turnout and deliver Democratic wins in districts with high Latino populations. “Sen. Padilla is going to be central in not only ensuring that Latino voters who were mobilized in the ’21 recall election are going to be primed for the ’22 midterms, but getting other voters across the country out, too,” Diaz explained. Nuestro PAC is leading a statewide campaign to elect Padilla and flip five congressional districts by targeting Latino voters. “There’s a need for the Democratic Party to coalesce around Sen. Padilla’s future, ensuring he gets the relevant face-time and exposure to create a national donor base,” Diaz said. “It’s essential to increase enthusiasm in the party.”

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Campus Police Presence Not Healthy for Development, Astor Says

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Social Welfare Professor Ron Avi Astor was mentioned in a Southern California News Group article about the controversial presence of armed officers on school campuses. Many school districts in Southern California have armed officers on their campuses despite opposition from parents and students. In September, 18-year-old Mona Rodriguez was fatally shot by a school safety officer in an off-campus parking lot in Long Beach. In that school district, non-sworn officers are able to carry guns, batons and pepper spray but do not have arrest powers. Other school districts have their own police departments or have contracts with police and sheriff departments. According to Astor, a heavy police presence can adversely impact the school climate. “Very heavily armed schools prime the kids in those schools to think of the place more like a prison,” Astor explained. “Militarizing and turning schools into things that look like prisons is not healthy for development. It’s not healthy for identity.”

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