Editing Brookline, Massachusetts (section)

===Housing and zoning history===
Brookline has a history of [[racial covenant]]s that blocked people of color and some ethnic minorities to own housing there. In the early 20th century, Brookline banned the construction of [[Three-decker (house)|triple-decker housing]], which was a form of housing popular with poor immigrant communities in the United States. Advocates for the ban justified the ban with anti-immigrant rhetoric.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Brookline homes: One wealthy liberal town reckons with its past |url=https://apps.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/special-projects/spotlight-boston-housing/brookline-identity-crisis/ |access-date=November 9, 2023 |website=The Boston Globe}}</ref>

In 1922, [[Prescott F. Hall]], a Brookline resident who co-founded the [[Immigration Restriction League]], petitioned the Brookline government to exclusively allow single-family housing. In 1924, the Brookline government enacted a zoning change to only permit single-family housing in most of the territory of Brookline. Many of the present-day apartment buildings in Brookline were constructed prior to this zoning change.<ref name=":0" />

In 1970, the [[Rent control in Massachusetts|state authorized rent control]] in municipalities with more than 50,000 residents.<ref name=enacted>{{cite web | url = https://rentcontrolhistory.com/chapters/rent-control-was-enacted-in-1920/ | title = Rent control was enacted in 1920. | publisher = Mass Landlords, Inc | accessdate = January 3, 2024 }}</ref> Brookline, Lynn, Somerville, and Cambridge subsequently adopted rent control.{{r|enacted}} Brookline began decontrolling units in 1991.<ref name=once>{{Cite news | title = Once Rejected by Voters, Rent Control Back on the Table in Massachusetts | date = January 13, 2020 | publisher = NewBostonPost | first = Tom |last = Joyce }}</ref>

Brookline has a recent history of blocking multifamily housing construction. Since the 1970s, new housing construction has plunged in Brookline. It has enacted zoning changes that ban multifamily apartment buildings and limit the height of buildings. Proposals for new development frequently face onerous lawsuits. These restrictions on housing supply have led housing prices in Brookline to skyrocket in recent decades. In 2023, the median sale price for a single-family home in Brookline was $2.51 million, and the median condo price was $927,500.<ref name=":0" />

As a consequence of restrictions on housing supply, Brookline is overwhelmingly wealthy. Only 2.5% of its population is Black, which is the second-lowest share of Black people in any community in the Boston area. Only 14% of Brookline teachers, 21% of Brookline police, and 22% of Brookline firefighters live in Brookline, as median salaries for these kinds of jobs make [[Workforce housing|housing]] in Brookline largely unaffordable.<ref name=":0" />