Is the YIMBY Movement Hopelessly Divided?
Internal tensions within the movement are real, but far from irreconcilable. Litigation and political reform are mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive pathways to curbing exclusionary zoning.
YIMBY
How Exclusionary Zoning Increases Homelessness
A new paper by housing expert Salim Furth shows it does so by making it harder for marginal people to find housing with relatives and friends.
Big City, Little Reforms
The final version of New York's "City of Yes" reforms makes modest liberalizing changes to the city's zoning code.
California's Rent Control Initiative Goes Down in Flames
A related initiative preventing the state's most prolific rent control–supporting nonprofit from funding future initiatives is headed for a narrow victory.
The Housing Election That Won't Fix the Housing Crisis
Victory in the fight for cheaper housing, a more liberal land-use regime, and greater property rights won't come from the White House.
The Year's Most Important Housing Vote
Proposition 33 would repeal all of California's state-level limits on rent control. It's passage could prove to be a disaster for housing supply in the Golden State.
Is Kamala Harris Really a YIMBY?
Harris rightly calls out regulations for causing the housing shortage, but she also supports rent control policies that will make it worse.
New Study on How to Address Public Ignorance About Housing Policy
New data shows that "housing supply skeptics" can be persuaded by evidence showing that allowing more construction reduces prices. But not clear this is a good road map for addressing the problem of public ignorance in the real world.
The First Amendment Right To 'Greenmail' Developers
Plus: The Montana Supreme Court rescues zoning reform, and a new challenge to inclusionary zoning.
Are You Living in San Diego's 'Worst ADU'?
Plus: The feds come for RealPage, a YIMBY caucus comes to Congress, and tiny Rhode Island enacts a big slate of housing reforms.
YIMBYs' Premature Victory Dance at the DNC
Kamala Harris' promise to end the housing shortage and adopt rent control shows that YIMBY ideas are just one of several competing housing policy agendas within the Democratic Party.
Harris and Trump Offer Terrible Housing Policies
With minor exceptions, their proposals are likely to do more harm than good.
Tim Walz's Other Stolen Valor Scandal
The Minnesota governor is being hailed as a YIMBY zoning reformer despite doing nothing of consequence on the issue.
The Housing Theory of Childless Cat Ladies
Would a YIMBY building boom rejuvenate urban family life or produce sterile, megacity hellscapes?
YIMBYism is the Ultimate Localism
If you want "local control" of land use, the best way to do it is let property owners decide how to use their property for themselves.
California Forever, Forever
The company needs a lot of government permission slips to build its planned new city in the Bay Area. It's now changing the order in which it asks for them.
A Religious Freedom Case for "YIGBY"
Notre Dame law Prof. Patrick Reidy argues that religious organizations are entitled to faith-based exemptions from zoning restrictions preventing them from building affordable housing on their land.
"Yes in God's Backyard" - A Useful, But Limited Form of Housing Deregulation
There is a growing movement to let churches and other religious organizations build housing on their property that would otherwise be banned by zoning regulations.
Conflicting Evidence on Public Support for YIMBY Zoning Reform
Recent studies diverge on the extent to which public opinion backs policies that would deregulate housing construction. YIMBYs would do well to learn from both.
Rent Free Q&A: Bryan Caplan on Build, Baby, Build
The George Mason University economist talks about his new housing comic book and how America could deregulate its way into an affordable urban utopia.
The Catholic Case Against NIMBYism
Urban policy analyst Addison Del Mastro advances it in the Catholic journal America.
As America Becomes More Secular, American Religion Will Need To Become More Urban
It's in cities that greater absolute numbers of religious people can compensate for declining per capita rates of religious observance.
New Zealand's YIMBY Success - And How We Can Learn From it
New Zealand alleviated a severe housing shortage by liberalizing regulations that had previously blocked most new construction.
Pioneer Institute Hubwonk Podcast on Exclusionary Zoning and the Takings Clause
In interview with Joe Selvaggi of the Pioneer Institute, I explain the harm caused by exclusionary zoning, and why it violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
A Brand New City in Northern California Will Show if the State Is Serious About Housing Solutions
The project might determine whether new generations will be able to take part in the American Dream.
Everything Is Getting Bigger in Texas
Plus: An interview with Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Minnesota lawmakers try to save Minneapolis zoning reform from excess environmental review, and the White House's new housing supply action plan.
Good Times, Bad Times: Eviction Edition
Plus: Voters in Massachusetts reject state-mandated upzonings, Florida localities rebel against a surprisingly effective YIMBY reform, and lawsuits target missing middle housing in Virginia.
Do Americans Really Only Want Sprawl?
Plus: the House votes for more affordable housing subsidies, Portland tries to fix its "inclusionary housing" program, and is 2024 the year of the granny flat?
The 2 Reasons California's YIMBY Reforms Are Failing
Plus: Ohio church sues the city trying to shut down its homeless services, another indigenous-owned megaproject approved in Vancouver, B.C., and a new report shows rapidly deteriorating housing affordability.
Zoning Bans the Good Samaritan
Plus: Beverly Hills homeowners can't build new pools until their city allows new housing, a ballot initiative would legalize California's newest city, and NIMBYs sue to overturn zoning reform (again).
12 Increasingly Off-the-Wall Housing Reforms
American cities and states passed a lot of good, incremental housing reforms in 2023. In 2024, we'd benefit from trying out some long shot ideas.
California Officials Force Elderly Couple To Dismantle Home, Citing Blocked Ocean Views
Plus: Austin's newly passed zoning reforms could be in legal jeopardy, HUD releases its latest census of the homeless population, and a little-discussed Florida reform is spurring a wave of home construction.
'The Town Without Zoning' Elects a Pro-Zoning Town Government
Pro-zoning candidates in Caroline, New York, won the elections for town supervisor and three seats on the town board.
House GOP Threatens To Kill 'Baby YIMBY Grant' Program After First Year
The Democrat-controlled Senate meanwhile is proposing to expand the program.
Damning New Audit Finds San Francisco Takes 3 Years To Approve New Housing
The state housing officials who performed the audit describe San Francisco's approval process as a "notoriously complex and cumbersome" mess.
Cities Want 'YIMBY Grants' To Pay for Bureaucratic Busy Work
Cities are asking for federal zoning-reform dollars to pay for plans that might never pass.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green Backtracks on YIMBY Emergency Order
In the face of lawsuits and accusations of attempted "genocide," Green is restoring many homebuilding regulations he suspended in July.
California Legislature Passes Slew of YIMBY Reforms
Two bills approved by the Legislature this week will make it easier to build affordable housing on church land and in coastal areas.
Judge Rules Minneapolis' Zoning Reforms Are Getting Too Much Housing Built
Plus: Political campaigns will have to disclose if they use AI in their ads, the effort to rehabilitate rent control rumbles on, and more...
Yes in My Back Yard: Puzzle #4
"Colorado resort town in which snowball fights are illegal"
To Tackle Highest Housing Costs in the Country, Hawaii's Governor Declares YIMBY Martial Law
An emergency proclamation by Gov. Josh Green offers developers the opportunity to route around almost all regulations on building homes.
A New Bill Would Extend California's YIMBY Revolution to Heavily Regulated Coastal Areas
S.B. 423 would prevent the state's powerful Coastal Commission from shooting down affordable housing projects that comply with local zoning laws.
NIMBY Cities Are Using Your Tax Dollars To Lobby Against New Housing
Publicly funded leagues of cities are fighting zoning reforms in state capitals across the country.
A YIMBY Victory in Montana
Montana's sweeping new zoning reform is both good in itself and a potential model for cross-ideological cooperation on this issue elsewhere.
More Evidence that Cutting Zoning Restrictions Reduces the Price of Housing
A new Pew Charitable Trusts study examining jurisdictions with that reformed zoning finds far lower rent increases there than elsewhere.
California's Builders and YIMBYs at Loggerheads Over Bill Cracking Down on 'Unchecked Sprawl'
Activists who would like to see more housing built and people who build housing for a living would seem to be natural allies. A new bill in the California Legislature is driving them apart.
