How Seattle Killed Micro-Housing
I am coming to understand that the purpose of almost all zoning regulations is to exclude &quot;undesirable&quot; people from the area.  Poor people are considered undesirable.  So zoning codes are tweaked until the effect is that high incomes are required.<p>You have to have a certain cynicism to understand that there is a huge disconnect between what regulations discuss (health and safety; parking requirements; setbacks; etc.) and what is the impact of the rules.  The reason rules are made is they have a desired effect.  The effects are often not obvious from the language of the rule, but if the effects turn out contrary to the interest of the rule-makers things will be  tweaked.<p>So the language and purported purpose of rules is obfuscation.  The rule-makers are paying attention to the effect of the rules.  That is their real purpose.<p>The form of the rules is optimised to make them appear beneficial to all, while the function is  optimised to benefit the rule-makers.