You’ve likely heard the term NIMBY (not in my backyard!) as it relates to the housing market, but have you heard of the YIMBY movement that is growing across the country? Today, let’s talk about it, how it’s impacting housing, and another housing term reporters should know.
Yes, in my backyard!
While NIMBY is generally associated with a desire to preserve neighborhoods as they are, and the fight against new housing developments, YIMBY encompasses people who generally support increasing housing development, removing density limits, and expanding public transportation.
YIMBY Action, a network of groups across the U.S. that advocate for “abundant housing that’s inclusive, sustainable, and affordable,” currently has 72 chapters across 28 states. The group is registered as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, which means it can participate in lobbying and political issues and that – unlike a typical charitable organization – donations to the group aren’t tax-deductible. Although YIMBY Action doesn’t disclose its major donors, 47% of its 2024 revenue came from foundations and corporations. Several members of its leadership team also have ties to the real estate industry.
The non-profit has helped push pro-housing legislation, including three Colorado bills recently signed into law. In Florida, a YIMBY group celebrated a local zoning change that would allow smaller lot sizes, and a new law signed in Arizona allows Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), or “casitas,” to be built on single-family home lots in cities with more than 75,000 people.
According to local reporters in New York, residents of Long Island are currently having a NIMBY/YIMBY divide on a proposed apartment building. Those against the proposal noted that it had too many issues that were unaddressed, including traffic congestion, the overburdening of utilities, schools and emergency services, and quality of life for current residents. Those in support of the proposal believe the new housing would strengthen the character of the neighborhood and provide alternative housing for families that would otherwise be priced out of the neighborhood.
Who are the houses for?
According to YIMBY Action, the country’s “housing shortage is a result of harmful laws passed at all levels of government,” and pushing for better housing solutions is a way to “reduce poverty, end homelessness, eliminate racial segregation, create jobs, and stop climate change.” While all of that sounds good, housing justice activists argue that YIMBYs have co-opted their messaging, but aren’t doing the same work. In California, activists have stressed that legislation that fails to require affordable housing to low-income residents, bypasses environmental regulation in the name of “efficiency,” and does not guarantee the use of union labor, will only benefit developers and landlords, rather than the people who need housing.
In the Phoenix area, historic neighborhoods are concerned that the new law to allow ADUs and “middle housing” (duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes) on single-family lots will allow developers to tear down historic homes without guaranteeing affordability. As one neighbor told the local press, “I would love affordable housing in this neighborhood, but we’re not developing affordable housing. We’re building fourplexes, most likely market and luxury units.”
A 2021 journal article called YIMBY the “latest frontier of gentrification,” and many opponents of the movement have stressed that economic inequality is at the heart of housing problems, not constraints on construction.
Silver tsunami incoming
Other critics of the YIMBY movement argue that the core argument of ‘just build more housing’ will only do so much to solve the housing crisis, as supply is only one small part of the equation, and deregulation may actually exacerbate the problem or create entirely new ones.
Meanwhile, a recent opinion in the Washington Post noted that due to demographic shifts and construction surges, it is possible the housing shortage may actually fix itself in many regions of the country. It cautioned against YIMBY talking points as housing affordability is shaped by a lot more than zoning and supply. In particular, the author points toward an incoming silver tsunami – the “gradual exit of baby boomers from the housing market via downsizing, relocation or death” – that could greatly increase housing supply in the next few years.
