Building Inequality or Inclusion? Demographic Diversity and Housing Affordability in Florida’s Planned Communities

Source abstract

Building planned communities on greenfield sites has long been a primary strategy for mass-producing housing in cities and nations worldwide. In the United States, however, these planned communities have also been sites of residential discrimination and segregation. This article analyzes planned communities proposed and built between 1975 and 2015 in Florida to understand their demographic composition and housing affordability. Most notably, our findings show that planned communities located in large metropolitan areas tend to reflect the broader household and housing characteristics of their surrounding regions. In contrast, those built in retirement and vacation destinations are markedly Whiter, older, and wealthier. The article also finds that the inclusion of rental properties is the strongest predictor of demographic diversity, but not income diversity. The findings suggest that planned communities can be a promising tool for expanding housing supply when they are built near existing population centers and offer diverse housing options, especially rental units.