Normally, housing discrimination is illegal under the federal Fair Housing Act. However, in 1995, Congress passed the Housing for Older Persons Act, which specifically allows for senior housing.
The authors write that opposition to affordable housing often centers on a bare hostility toward low-income families with children. When faced with proposals to build affordable housing, municipalities frequently demand that developers implement age restrictions or refuse approval altogether. In other words, many local governments support more housing options that specifically exclude parents and their children.
Of course, senior housing can indirectly help families. Desirable homes for the elderly might encourage some older residents to move out of general housing, thus freeing up supply. Additionally, if grandma can move nearby, it may increase the likelihood of having another child.
But during a baby bust, when the housing crunch is the dominant financial challenge, it seems perverse to prioritize housing for non-families.
The authors of a Yale Law Journal article attribute this trend to class warfare. Critically, exclusionary municipalities do not oppose all forms of family housing. Local policymakers rarely object to single-family homes, whose occupants tend to be wealthier and whiter than residents of multifamily housing.
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**MAGAZINE: GAMES ARE FOR THE ADULTS NOW**
This isn’t my experience. In my 2024 book, *Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder than It Needs to Be*, I write:
“A big problem is that many local political leaders don’t really want families moving in. Businesses mean revenue. Families mean costs,” Tom Weisner, the late mayor of Aurora, Illinois, once told me.
“Families mean schools, playgrounds, sidewalks, and social services—all of which cost money and bring in no revenue. Businesses generate sales taxes and greater property taxes. Childless young professionals have the most disposable income to spend downtown.”
Politics erects multiple headwinds specifically against family housing. That needs to change.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/3827052/family-unfriendly-housing-discrimination/