Journal of Planning Education and Research 1–13 © The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0739456X16659763 jpe.sagepub.com Research-Based Article Introduction In response to declines in state and federal housing assistance over the last several decades, communities around the nation have turned to Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) programs to incentiv- ize the production of affordable housing. Existing research on IZ has been largely tenure-neutral, ignoring the costs and ben- efits of IZ as a strategy for promoting affordable homeowner- ship. Critics question whether IZ price controls impose economic inefficiencies and limit low-income homeowners’ ability to accumulate housing wealth (Scruggs 2103; Powell and Stringham 2005). Since IZ homeownership programs function differently than rental programs and are often designed to promote different public policy objectives, more research is needed to determine whether IZ is an appropriate and effective strategy for promoting affordable and sustain- able homeownership for low-income households. Our study fills this gap, drawing upon data from the Montgomery County, Maryland, Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit (MPDU) program, the nation’s oldest and largest local IZ program, to address the following questions: 1. How many MPDU homeownership units have been produced since the program’s inception? 2. What are the characteristics of MPDU homeowner- ship units compared to other units sold on the market, and how have these changed over time? 3. What is the rate of appreciation for MPDUs com- pared to other market-rate units, and how did the housing market crash and expiration of the price con- trol period affect appreciation rates? We find that the MPDU program has been quite successful in producing affordable homeownership units, most of which have been condominiums and townhomes located in areas where new residential construction has occurred. We also find that while MPDU homes did not appreciate as rapidly as other market-rate housing during the housing boom, MPDUs real- ized significant equity gains and saw smaller price declines during the housing bust. We find that over the most recent boom-bust period, the homes owned by MPDU certificate holders were resold for much higher prices than newly pro- duced MPDUs, and our analysis suggests that the gap between MPDU resales and new construction can be attributed in part to the difference in how price ceilings are established for these two housing types. These findings have important implica- tions for the affordability and sustainability of IZ homeowner- ship programs and provide insights into programmatic design issues that other communities may wish to consider when implementing an IZ homeownership program. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: The next section reviews the literature on affordable homeowner- ship, limited equity housing, and IZ homeownership programs. Following the literature review, we describe the key features of 659763JPE XX X 10.1177/0739456X16659763Journal of Planning Education and ResearchDawkins et al. research-article 2016 Initial submission, October 2015; revised submission, March 2016; final acceptance, May 2016 1 University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA Corresponding Author: Casey Dawkins, University of Maryland, College Park, 1112H Preinkert Field House (Building 054), College Park, MD 20742, USA. Email: dawkins1@umd.edu Creating and Preserving Affordable Homeownership Opportunities: Does Inclusionary Zoning Make Sense? Casey Dawkins 1 , Jae Sik Jeon 1 , and Gerrit-Jan Knaap 1 Abstract This paper draws on data from the Montgomery County, Maryland, Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit (MPDU) program to analyze the effectiveness of inclusionary zoning as an affordable homeownership strategy. We find that the MPDU program has successfully produced a large number of affordable homeownership units since the program’s inception, particularly condominium and townhome units located in areas where new residential construction has occurred. While MPDU homes did not appreciate as rapidly as other market-rate housing during the housing boom, MPDUs realized significant equity gains and saw smaller price declines during the housing bust. Keywords inclusionary zoning, affordable housing, homeownership