Glossary

Density Bonus

Also known as: Affordable Housing Density Bonus, Incentive Zoning

A zoning incentive that permits a developer to build at a higher density, height, or FAR than the base district otherwise allows, granted in exchange for providing a public benefit the jurisdiction has designated as bonus-eligible — most commonly affordable or workforce housing units.

Density bonus programs are most consequential in jurisdictions with statewide mandatory frameworks (California's density bonus law is the most prominent example), where a qualifying affordable housing set-aside entitles a developer to a bonus as a matter of right — along with ancillary concessions such as reduced parking ratios or waivers from specific development standards that would otherwise make the bonus density physically infeasible to build — removing much of the local discretionary review risk that would otherwise attach to a comparable rezoning or PUD negotiation. Because the bonus percentage typically scales with the depth and share of affordability committed, sponsors run the density bonus calculation as an explicit feasibility scenario against a base-zoning scenario to determine whether the incremental market-rate unit count achievable under the bonus outweighs the revenue given up on the required affordable units, together with any long-term affordability covenant recorded against the property. A density bonus is distinct from a variance or CUP in that it is typically available as an entitlement right upon meeting defined eligibility criteria, rather than a discretionary approval the jurisdiction can deny on subjective grounds.