About Us
We focus on the legal structures that shape how communities form.
The Social Infrastructure Project is a nonpartisan policy organization dedicated to modernizing housing and zoning law where it produces exclusionary, discriminatory, or harmful outcomes.
Our Perspective
We are at an inflection point in how we think about the built environment and its effects on civic life, health, and equality. The social fabric is being torn not only by economic and political forces but also by the physical structure of our communities.
Decades of research show that sustained social connection is one of the strongest predictors of long-term health and wellbeing. At the same time, social isolation has increased dramatically, alongside declines in physical activity, civic participation, and trust.
Housing law plays a central but underexamined role in these trends. By prohibiting or discouraging socially connected forms of living, current zoning regimes actively undermine health, equality, and democratic life.
These outcomes are not incidental. They are the predictable result of legal frameworks that prioritize narrow household models and low-density separation over human connection and access.
Our work sits at the intersection of three concerns:
Civil Rights
Addressing discriminatory effects on protected and marginalized groups
Public Health
Recognizing social connection and walkability as determinants of wellbeing
Freedom of Association
Protecting the ability of people to organize their lives and communities without undue legal interference
We approach housing not only as shelter or commodity, but as social infrastructure—essential to the functioning of healthy, equitable communities.
How We Work
The Social Infrastructure Project advances reform through legal analysis and policy research, engagement with state executive agencies, support for targeted legislative solutions, and strategic use of judicial pathways where necessary.
We emphasize state-level action because many of the most exclusionary zoning outcomes arise from local rules operating under delegated authority. State leadership is the most effective way to establish consistent standards and prevent discrimination by effect rather than intent.
Our Goal
To ensure that New Yorkers are not legally barred from living near the people who matter to them—and that housing law reflects how people actually live today.
Why This Work Matters
We pursue reform because many existing zoning regimes conflict with New York's constitutional commitments to equality, public health, and freedom of association—and because the outcomes are demonstrably harmful.
State government exists not only to adjudicate disputes, but to safeguard the conditions under which a democratic society can function: access to housing, protection from discrimination, and environments that support health and civic life.
When legal frameworks systematically produce isolation, exclusion, and inequity—even without discriminatory intent—they fall short of that mandate. Our work treats these outcomes not as abstractions, but as evidence that existing law must be clarified, modernized, and enforced.