What talk of ‘abolishing the suburbs’ is really about

President Trump has made repeated overtures to suburban voters over the past month, mostly in the form of social media posts saying that Joe Biden wants to “abolish the suburbs” and poses a threat to the “Suburban Lifestyle Dream.”

Suburbs are not something that can be formally abolished through legislation, of course. Trump’s attacks are inspired by a Obama-era rule that sought to decrease racial segregation in housing. It required local governments to consider eliminating zoning laws that create barriers to fair housing or risk losing federal grant money. Despite Trump’s recent criticism of the rule, it remained in place until late July.

Most American suburbs have restrictive zoning laws that make it illegal to build anything other than single-family homes. Biden proposes amending some of these laws — which he calls exclusionary zoning — to boost the development of multi-family units and decrease the cost of housing overall. Trump opposes this plan, claiming that an increase in low-income housing would bring crime, change the character of the suburbs and lower property values.