Electoral Representation, Zoning Politics, and the Exclusion of Group Homes

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Abstract
This paper examines how ward representation affects zoning policies with respect to group homes that house or care for the mentally retarded, juvenile offenders, recovering alcoholics and/or drug users. The analysis is motivated by an interest representation model that contends that constituency homogeneity should cause elected officials to be attentive to revealed preferences of their constituents. As predicted, ward representation, which enhances constituency homogeneity, is strongly associated with the exclu sion of group homes in municipal zoning ordinances. The median household income of a city, relative to that of its metropolitan area, also has some ex clusionary effect. Other demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of communities, which have been the primary focus of prior research on the siting of group homes, have no statistically significant effect in this analysis.

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