Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)

Citation: Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)
Jurisdiction: Arlington (municipal)
Source: Official source
Original Source: https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57214/637641171662530000 ↗

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navigate, often necessitating legal counsel and zoning consultants to parse,
and thus increasing costs. Zoning codes tend to become more complicated over time due to amendments patched
into the law, and this is partly the case here. However, Arlington’s specific history of complexity is also tied to
exclusionary reforms of the mid-20th century. (See Structural Barriers to Fair Housing on page 50.) This
complexity is an indirect impediment to fair housing.
The substance of the Zoning Bylaw also presents fair housing issues. The current Bylaw is more restrictive than its
own historic development patterns, substantially limiting opportunities to build multifamily housing and create
affordable housing options in town—housing options that can advance fair housing choice.
As described above, single-family districts have historically been employed as a mechanism to promote
segregation and to prevent households that cannot afford a single-family home on a large lot from moving to