Are California’s Local Jurisdictions Disproportionately Directing Growth Toward Existing Disadvantaged Communities? Evidence from the Southern California and San Francisco Bay Area Regions
Communities across the United States are striving to promote smart urban growth through compact urban infill residential development. They are doing so to mitigate sprawl's negative fiscal, environmental, social, and physical impacts, strengthen land use-housing-transportation linkages, and develop at densities needed for well-functioning public transit. Some states, such as California, have gone a step further by linking compact urban infill development as critical to meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some Californian jurisdictions are planning disproportionately large amounts of new urban development in disadvantaged communities (DACs), but empirical evidence is lacking.
Using the two most populated regions of the state—the San Francisco Bay Area (S.F. Bay Area) and Southern California (SoCal)—as case studies, this research finds that the new housing is disproportionately planned in DACs in both the case study regions. Specifically, of the areas earmarked for future growth, close to a quarter (22%) are disadvantaged in the S.F. Bay Area region and close to half (48%) in the SoCal region. Meanwhile, the total area of the region that is disadvantaged is only 14% and 26%, respectively. These findings are critical for equity implications in policy and planning in these areas and beyond.
