Single-Family Zoning

You might be surprised to discover that single-family zoning, a racist practice meant to restrict lower income and BIPOC people from owning property in white neighborhoods, was devised in 1916 in the very town in which you are standing, Berkeley California.

Real estate developer Duncan McDuffie was behind this. After developing the racial covenants to keep neighborhoods lilly white, McDuffie was committed to doing the same in neighborhoods bordering these developments. When a Black-owned dance hall wanted to locate in Elmwood, McDuffie made sure it remained zoned solely for single-family homes; another form of low-income population exclusion.

Oddly enough, at the time, McDuffie was a well-known environmental conservationist, and served as president of the Sierra Club for 6 years. He was also involved in the creation of the East Bay Regional Park District and the California Parks system. For McDuffie and other white environmentalists of the time, racial exclusion was actually seen as an essential element to protecting parks and open spaces. This demonstrates the naturalized racism of the time. Unfortunately, racism was woven into the the early environmental movement and park development.