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Waving a gun at protestors doesn?t make you an urbanism expert. There?s a pernicious myth about affordable-housing developments: They lower property values in surrounding areas. President Trump has seen its value as a way to scare suburban voters, many of whom turned against him in the midterms, back into line. And it again took center stage of the first night of the Republican National Convention, where it was echoed in speeches throughout the night.
?They want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single-family-home zoning,? said Patricia McCloskey, who along with her husband was charged with felonies for waving guns at nonviolent protesters in St. Louis, in a speech during the convention. ?This forced rezoning would bring crime, lawlessness, and low-quality apartments in now-thriving suburban neighborhoods.? McCloskey wasn?t the only convention speaker who predicted a doomsday scenario for the suburbs under a Joe Biden presidency.
Except, of course, the federal government does not have the legal authority to dictate local zoning laws and thus couldn?t even do so if it wanted to. No one is going to ?abolish the suburbs,? because no one can.
But it?s Trump serving red meat to his rural base. He?s previously tweeted about how ?low-income people? are ?invading? the suburbs, and, racism aside, the message plays on the fear of suburbanites that their home values will drop if apartments or affordable housing are built in the area.

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