Development Interrupted: Puzzle #16
"Part of the psyche prized by Ayn Rand"
YIMBY
'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.
Denver Voters Reject Plan To Let Developer Convert Its Private Golf Course Into Thousands of Homes
Developer Westside wanted to turn its 155-acre property into 3,200 homes and a public park.
The First 'Missing Middle' Reform of the Year Has Passed. Will It Get Housing Built?
Arlington's successful passage of a modest missing middle housing reform bill after an intense debate raises the question of whether YIMBY politics can practically fix the problems it sets out to address.
Ex-Lawmakers, Socialist City Councilmember Fight Putting New Housing on Shuttered Denver Golf Course
An oddball coalition of neighborhood activists and left-wing politicians have opposed plans to convert the privately owned site to housing, citing the loss of open space and impacts on gentrification.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's Housing Plan Avoids Common Mistake of Other YIMBY Reforms
The governor would let developers route around local zoning codes and get housing projects approved directly by state officials.
California's Housing Crisis Hasn't Spared the State's College Students
A new law would make it harder for NIMBY neighbors to obstruct new dorms with bogus environmental complaints.
As California Embraces Development, San Francisco Mayor Vetoes Fake Housing Reform Bill
The proposed policy was offensive to property rights and disincentivized construction. The mayor's rejection of it shows the state's increasing interest in allowing more building.
Cardi B Delivers Perceptive, Profanity-Laced Analysis of High Home Prices, Rents
The rapper blamed a lack of "motherfucking inventory" for high home prices and rising rents in low-income neighborhoods. She's not the only one.
This Renegade California Developer Wants To Build a 2,300-Unit Megaproject in a NIMBY Stronghold
A never-before-used state law might make his plans bulletproof.
Glenn Youngkin Says NIMBY Regulations Are Making Virginia an Impossibly Expensive Place To Live
The governor blamed local restrictions on new development for the state's rapidly rising rents and home prices.
Marc Andreessen's High-Tech Fix for the Housing Crisis Lets Him Keep Being a NIMBY
The venture capitalist's $350 million investment in WeWork founder Adam Neumann's new venture Flow is supposed to help renters build community and equity. They'd be better off if we just built housing instead.
San Francisco Mayor Slaps Down Clever Plot To Make Housing Crisis Worse
The mayor vetoed a controversial ordinance that would have legalized more types of housing on paper while making it harder to build in practice.
Beyond NIMBY vs. YIMBY—How Current Homeowners Can Benefit from Zoning Deregulation
Even if the value of their property goes down, current homeowners still often have much to gain from breaking down barriers to new housing construction.
San Francisco's Efforts to Block Duplexes Could Force It To Allow Skyscrapers Instead
Supervisors have proposed legalizing fourplexes in a way that preserves NIMBYs’ ability to stop new housing. That could trigger the state’s obscure “builder’s remedy.”
By Forcing U.C. Berkeley To Cut Enrollment, Have California's NIMBYs Finally Gone Too Far?
Lawmakers are proposing to strip neighborhood activists of the legal tools they've used to freeze the university's student population.
AOC Is a Fake YIMBY
The New York congresswoman has endorsed much-needed zoning reform, but also raised typical NIMBY complaints about projects in her own backyard.
Will the Democrats' 'Build Back Better' Bill Do Anything to Fix Zoning?
Will the "Unlocking Possibilities" program be an effective way to spark zoning reforms—or just a subsidy to planning consultants?
Joe Biden Will Let World Leaders Know He Wants To Spend a Lot of Money on Climate Change
Plus: New York City's vaccine mandate is accidentally shrinking the city's workforce, a windowless dorm in California stokes controversy, and more...
Would the Mother of All NIMBY Ballot Initiatives Accidentally Allow More Development?
California activists have proposed a ballot initiative that would effectively strip the state government of the ability to regulate land use.
California Takes a Big Step Toward Legalizing 'Missing Middle' Housing
Legislators advance bills that would allow duplexes statewide and make it easier for local governments to legalize small apartment buildings.
Malibu Man Fined $4.2 Million Over Disputed Beachfront Gate
Warren Lent is suing the California Coastal Commission, arguing that its power to unilaterally hand down massive fines with minimal process is unconstitutional.
The White House Offers More Money, Less Detail on Its Idea for 'YIMBY Grants'
The Biden administration wants to give $5 billion to jurisdictions that deregulate their housing markets.
Is 2021 the YIMBY Movement's Time to Shine on Capitol Hill?
A crop of bipartisan bills in Congress aims to reduce local and state regulations on new housing.
Joe Biden's $2 Trillion Jobs Plan Endorses 'YIMBY Grants'
The president endorses a competitive grant program that would reward localities for loosening their restrictive zoning codes.
London NIMBYs and YIMBYs Unite To Build More Housing
Could allowing blocks to upzone themselves end the most intractable feud in urban development?
California's YIMBYs Forgo Big State Upzoning Bill In Favor of Wonkier, More Modest Reforms
New bills in the legislature would make it easier for cities to allow more housing on their own, and crack down on places that try to cheat their way out of permitting development.
California Massively Increased the Amount of Housing the Bay Area Has To Allow. YIMBY Lawsuit Says 'Eh, Could Be More.'
A new lawsuit from two YIMBY groups argues that the state failed to incorporate a jobs-housing balance when calculating the number of new homes the San Francisco Bay Area has to plan for.
The Nation's Top YIMBY Legislator Crushes His Socialist Opponent
California Sen. Scott Wiener coasted to victory in an election that pitted his deregulatory housing agenda against his opponent's socialist vision.
The YIMBY Movement Has Made it to D.C. Republicans Are Leading the Way.
Proposals from the White House and Sen. Todd Young highlight the role regulation plays in raising housing costs.
Housing-Starved San Francisco Shoots Down New Apartment Project Because It Would Cast Shadow on Nearby Park. Again.
This is not the first time the city has tried to delay a project over shadow concerns.