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This case explores the response of one affluent, suburban county to the perceived need, both for economic and social policy reasons, for "affordable" (i.e., moderately-priced) new housing. It recounts the origins and evolution of an adjustment to the county zoning code designed to permit construction of higher-density (and therefore more profitable) housing, in exchange for an agreement by developers to construct prescribed numbers of moderately-priced units on the same development sites as well. This case raises some of the most dramatic social policy issues to be found in American society. Should political jurisdictions also serve as economic barriers? If not, how should housing patterns deal with variations in income? Apart from these types of social policy issues, the case also scrutinizes the details of a regulatory scheme designed to harness private sector activity toward public social purposes, in a way that suggests parallels to other situations.