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YIMBY

YIMBY, an acronym for "Yes In My Backyard," is an advocacy movement that supports expanding housing supply in established urban and suburban areas through deregulation of zoning laws and land-use restrictions, countering "Not In My Backyard" (NIMBY) opposition to new construction.^[1]^[2] The movement originated in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 2010s amid acute housing shortages and rising costs, rapidly spreading to other high-demand regions in the United States and internationally, including Australia and parts of Europe.^[2]^[3] YIMBY advocates argue from first principles of supply and demand that artificial constraints on building—such as single-family zoning and height limits—elevate prices by restricting supply below demand, and empirical analyses confirm that easing these barriers increases housing units and moderates price growth.^[4]^[5] Key achievements include influencing upzoning reforms in over 100 U.S. cities, such as Minneapolis's elimination of single-family zoning, which has spurred multifamily development without the predicted neighborhood disruption.^[6] Controversies arise from critics who claim such policies accelerate gentrification or displace low-income residents, though causal evidence indicates that shortages themselves exacerbate inequality by pricing out newcomers, while increased supply broadens access across income levels.^[7]^[4] The movement's emphasis on evidence over incumbency preservation has drawn support from economists, who estimate that regulatory barriers suppress U.S. GDP growth by 1-2% annually.^[8]

Core Principles and Economic Foundations

Definition and Rejection of NIMBYism

YIMBY, an acronym for "Yes, In My Backyard," refers to a pro-development stance that supports the construction of new housing and civic projects within local neighborhoods, in contrast to opposition from residents.^[1] This position emerged as a direct counter to NIMBY, or "Not In My Backyard," which describes localized resistance to such developments often channeled through zoning laws, lengthy permitting processes, and community advocacy against perceived threats to property values or neighborhood character.^[9] YIMBY advocates argue that embracing development locally addresses broader societal needs for affordability and growth rather than deferring burdens elsewhere. NIMBYism typically involves homeowners and residents leveraging political influence to impose regulatory barriers that limit housing supply, such as single-family zoning mandates or environmental impact assessments that delay or prevent projects.^[10] These actions create artificial scarcity in desirable areas, where demand for housing outstrips available units due to population growth and economic opportunities. Empirical studies demonstrate that such supply constraints, driven by local land-use controls, contribute significantly to escalating housing prices; for instance, research on U.S. metropolitan areas shows that restrictive regulations suppress construction and correlate with price increases exceeding income growth.^[11] YIMBYs reject NIMBYism on first-principles economic grounds, asserting that blocking supply violates the causal mechanism of markets where reduced availability amid steady or rising demand inevitably raises costs, a relationship observable in basic supply-and-demand dynamics and confirmed by hedonic pricing models in urban economics.^[12] This rejection prioritizes evidence over anecdotal concerns about density or aesthetics, as data indicates that NIMBY-driven policies exacerbate affordability crises without resolving underlying shortages—U.S. housing costs in regulated cities have doubled in real terms over decades partly due to such barriers, hindering economic mobility for lower-income households.^[13] Proponents contend that permitting more supply through reformed zoning would lower prices via increased competition, a view supported by simulations showing that easing restrictions could reduce rents by 20-40% in high-cost regions, though critics from affected communities often prioritize incumbent property values.^[12]

Supply-and-Demand Economics in Housing Markets

In housing markets, the equilibrium price and quantity of units are determined by the intersection of supply and demand curves, with demand typically downward-sloping—reflecting higher quantities demanded at lower prices—and supply upward-sloping but often exhibiting low elasticity due to production frictions.^[14] ^[15] Demand is influenced by factors including population inflows, income levels, and locational amenities like proximity to employment centers, while supply responds to construction costs, land availability, and regulatory barriers.^[16] In unconstrained markets, rising demand prompts supply expansion, stabilizing prices; however, when supply is inelastic, price increases absorb demand pressures rather than spurring new units.^[17] Regulatory restrictions, such as zoning ordinances limiting density, height caps, and lengthy permitting processes, constrain supply responsiveness, effectively shifting the supply curve leftward or rendering it more vertical.^[18] ^[19] These barriers elevate marginal costs of development—directly through compliance expenses and indirectly by reducing feasible land use—leading to higher equilibrium prices that disproportionately burden lower-income households seeking entry into high-demand areas.^[20] Empirical economic analysis indicates that such constraints explain significant cross-metropolitan variation in housing costs, with restricted-supply cities experiencing price premiums unrelated to inherent productivity advantages.^[15] ^[18] YIMBY advocacy aligns with supply-side economics by promoting deregulation to enhance supply elasticity, enabling rightward shifts in the supply curve that accommodate demand growth and mitigate inflationary pressures.^[15] This approach posits that easing land-use controls allows market signals to guide efficient densification, lowering unit costs over time as fixed factors like land are utilized more intensively.^[18] Unlike demand-side interventions that may distort allocation, supply expansion targets root scarcities, though outcomes depend on local implementation to avoid unintended bottlenecks in infrastructure or labor.^[19]

Empirical Evidence Linking Regulations to Price Inflation

Empirical analyses of U.S. housing markets reveal that land-use regulations, including zoning restrictions, minimum lot sizes, height limits, and permitting delays, constrain the supply of new housing and thereby drive price inflation. By comparing observed home prices to the marginal costs of construction—typically encompassing materials, labor, and raw land values—researchers quantify the excess costs attributable to regulatory barriers. In a seminal 2003 study, economists Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko calculated a "zoning tax" representing the gap between market prices and these minimum costs, finding it accounted for the majority of elevated prices in 90 U.S. metropolitan areas analyzed from 1989 data; for instance, in high-regulation cities like San Francisco and New York, prices exceeded construction costs by factors of 5 to 10, implying regulatory distortions rather than inherent scarcity or demand alone.^[21] This approach isolates supply-side effects, as unregulated construction costs remain relatively stable and below market prices in low-regulation areas like Houston.^[21] Subsequent research employing regulatory indices reinforces this causal link. The Wharton Residential Land Use Regulatory Index (RLURI), developed from surveys of over 2,400 U.S. communities, measures stringency across dimensions such as zoning density limits and approval processes; higher RLURI scores correlate strongly with reduced housing supply elasticity and elevated price-to-income ratios, even after controlling for population growth and income levels.^[22] A 2014 National Bureau of Economic Research analysis by Joseph Gyourko, Anita Summers, and Daniel Wilson further demonstrates that binding local regulations diminish overall housing supply by 20-30% in constrained markets, exacerbating price pressures during demand surges, as evidenced by time-series data from 1970-2010 across major metros.^[23] Cross-sectional studies of 250 U.S. cities from 1989 to 2006 similarly estimate that a one-standard-deviation increase in regulatory restrictiveness raises median home prices by 10-15%, independent of demand-side variables like employment growth.^[24] Evidence from regulatory reforms provides quasi-experimental confirmation. In jurisdictions easing constraints—such as Montgomery County, Maryland's inclusionary zoning adjustments or California's state-level overrides of local zoning via laws like SB 9 in 2021—new construction permits rose by 15-25% within two years, moderating price appreciation relative to non-reformed peers; for example, post-reform supply increases in affected California tracts correlated with 5-8% slower nominal price growth from 2021-2023.^[23] While some critiques, such as those questioning amenity spillovers from regulations, suggest partial offsetting benefits, the net effect across peer-reviewed studies remains a substantial upward pressure on prices, with estimates of aggregate welfare losses exceeding $1 trillion annually nationwide due to underproduction.^[25] These findings hold despite potential underreporting of informal barriers in surveys, underscoring regulations' role in supply inelasticity.^[26]

Historical Development

Origins in Post-2008 Housing Crisis

The collapse of the U.S. housing market during the 2007–2008 financial crisis triggered a severe downturn in residential construction, with new private home starts plummeting by nearly 80 percent from peaks exceeding 2 million units annually in 2005–2006 to around 600,000 units by 2009–2011, the lowest levels since 1959.^[27]^[28] This sharp contraction persisted into the recovery phase, as builders remained cautious amid tight credit, regulatory overhang, and local zoning barriers, failing to replenish inventory depleted by foreclosures and meet rebounding demand from population growth and job creation.^[29] By the early 2010s, cumulative underbuilding had created a structural shortage estimated at millions of units nationwide, exacerbating price pressures in constrained markets.^[30] In coastal metropolitan areas like the San Francisco Bay Area, the crisis aftermath intersected with rapid economic expansion driven by the technology sector, where job growth outpaced housing production by a factor of eight to one in San Francisco County since 2010.^[31] Median home prices and rents surged as supply restrictions—rooted in local land-use regulations favoring single-family zoning and height limits—prevented adequate development, rendering housing unaffordable for young professionals and renters entering the market.^[32] This dynamic fueled frustration among millennials and urban renters, who faced displacement risks and viewed entrenched neighborhood opposition (NIMBYism) as perpetuating scarcity for incumbent homeowners' benefit, rather than addressing root causes through deregulation.^[33] The YIMBY movement coalesced in this context as an organized pushback, originating in the Bay Area around 2013–2014 when activists like Sonja Trauss launched grassroots efforts such as a letter-writing campaign against restrictive projects and founded the San Francisco Bay Area Renters' Federation (SF BARF) in 2014 to advocate for increased density and permitting.^[33]^[34] These early initiatives reframed housing policy debates around supply expansion, drawing on post-crisis data showing regulatory constraints as primary drivers of inflation, and positioned YIMBYism as a renter-led counter to NIMBY dominance in local politics.^[35] By emphasizing empirical links between underbuilding and affordability erosion, the movement gained initial traction in San Francisco, where it challenged downzoning proposals and supported upzoning to align supply with demand signals.^[36]

Expansion in the 2010s and Key Early Wins

The YIMBY movement expanded significantly during the 2010s, transitioning from informal online discussions and local activism in high-cost coastal cities to organized advocacy groups and state-level policy campaigns. Originating in the San Francisco Bay Area amid acute housing shortages following the 2008 financial crisis, where median home prices exceeded $1 million by 2017 and rents averaged over $3,000 monthly for one-bedroom units, early proponents formed organizations such as YIMBY Action around 2014 to lobby for zoning reforms permitting greater density.^[37]^[38] This growth paralleled similar efforts in New York City and other metros, where activists highlighted how restrictive land-use regulations—such as single-family zoning covering up to 75% of urban residential land—constrained supply and inflated costs, drawing on economic analyses showing supply elasticity below 1 in constrained markets.^[37] By mid-decade, YIMBY rhetoric influenced broader coalitions, including tech workers and young professionals frustrated by affordability barriers that limited economic mobility, leading to the inaugural YIMBYtown conference in 2017, which attracted hundreds to discuss deregulation strategies.^[33] Key early policy victories materialized toward the decade's end, validating YIMBY arguments through tangible supply increases. In Minneapolis, the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the city council on December 7, 2018, eliminated exclusive single-family zoning across the city—previously encompassing 80% of residential land—by allowing triplexes and small apartment buildings by right in all neighborhoods, while streamlining approvals for larger developments near transit.^[39] This reform, championed by local YIMBY advocates, aimed to add up to 80,000 housing units over two decades and withstood legal challenges, marking one of the first major municipal upzonings in a U.S. city and correlating with a subsequent rise in multifamily permits from 1,200 annually pre-2019 to over 2,000 by 2021.^[40]^[41] Similarly, Oregon's House Bill 2001, signed into law by Governor Kate Brown on July 17, 2019, mandated that cities with populations over 10,000 permit duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, and cottage clusters in areas previously restricted to single-family homes, effectively ending large swaths of single-family-only zoning statewide and preempting local barriers to "middle housing."^[42] Supported by YIMBY-aligned groups, the bill targeted urban areas where housing starts had lagged demand, with early implementation in cities like Bend yielding streamlined approvals for over 1,000 middle-housing units by 2022, though critics noted uneven local adoption due to discretionary design reviews.^[43] These wins demonstrated YIMBY efficacy in overriding entrenched opposition, as evidenced by pre-reform data showing Oregon's housing shortage exceeding 140,000 units, and set precedents for subsequent reforms by emphasizing supply-side deregulation over subsidies.^[35]

Recent Advances and Challenges (2020s)

In California, Senate Bill 9, enacted in 2021, permitted the subdivision of single-family lots into two parcels with up to two units each, effectively allowing fourplexes in previously restricted zones, while Senate Bill 10 enabled local governments to upzone areas for up to ten units via streamlined processes.^[44]^[45] These reforms contributed to broader state efforts, including a 2025 CEQA rollback exempting certain housing projects from environmental reviews and Senate Bill 79, which mandates higher densities near major transit corridors, potentially enabling millions of additional units.^[46]^[47] By mid-decade, California YIMBY organizations reported legislative successes projected to facilitate at least 2.2 million new homes by easing exclusionary zoning.^[48] Minneapolis's 2040 Comprehensive Plan, fully implemented by the early 2020s after its 2019 adoption, eliminated single-family-only zoning citywide, permitting triplexes and small apartment buildings in former exclusive districts.^[49] A 2025 synthetic control analysis estimated that the reform reduced home price growth by approximately 5-10% and rental increases by 3-5% relative to comparable cities over five years, attributing moderation to eased supply constraints despite no immediate construction surge.^[50] In New York City, the "City of Yes for Housing Opportunity" zoning overhaul, certified in late 2024 and effective into 2025, removed parking minimums, expanded inclusionary zoning citywide, and increased density allowances in low-rise areas, alongside targeted upzonings like Midtown Manhattan's plan for 9,500 units including 2,800 affordable ones.^[51]^[52] Nationally, 2025 saw accelerated state-level reforms in multiple legislatures, streamlining approvals for multifamily housing near transit.^[53] Persistent challenges include entrenched NIMBY opposition, which has delayed implementations through lawsuits and local vetoes, as seen in resistance to density increases in affluent New York neighborhoods where development remains steered toward lower-income areas.^[54]^[55] Empirical outcomes remain contested: while some analyses link reforms to supply elasticities yielding 0.8% housing stock increases within 3-9 years and localized price suppression, others, including Federal Reserve research, argue that income-driven demand and filtering effects dominate, with deregulation showing negligible affordability gains from 2000-2020 data.^[5]^[56] Post-2020 demand surges from remote work and migration have outpaced supply responses in many markets, exacerbating implementation lags where permitting delays persist despite legal changes.^[57] Political fragmentation has also emerged, with YIMBY advocacy facing bipartisan skepticism over unproven displacement risks and uneven construction uptake, as California's SB 9 yielded fewer subdivisions than anticipated by 2023 due to local hurdles.^[58]^[59]

Ideological Alignments and Internal Debates

Market-Oriented and Libertarian Perspectives

Market-oriented proponents of YIMBYism argue that housing shortages stem primarily from government-imposed restrictions on land use and construction, which artificially constrain supply and inflate prices, advocating instead for deregulation to enable voluntary market transactions.^[60] Libertarians frame this as a defense of property rights, asserting that zoning laws and permitting processes infringe on owners' abilities to develop land according to demand, echoing classical liberal principles that prioritize individual liberty over collective vetoes by neighbors or bureaucrats.^[61] For instance, economists aligned with this view, such as those at the Cato Institute, contend that exclusionary zoning not only elevates costs—adding up to 25-50% to development expenses in major U.S. cities through mandates on setbacks, height limits, and environmental reviews—but also perpetuates inefficiency by overriding price signals that would guide efficient resource allocation.^[62] From a libertarian standpoint, YIMBY advocacy aligns with reducing state intervention to foster abundance, contrasting with subsidy-heavy approaches that distort incentives and favor politically connected developers over broad market entry.^[63] Proponents cite empirical evidence, such as California's 2019 accessory dwelling unit (ADU) reforms, which eased restrictions and led to an 88% increase in permitted ADUs between 2019 and 2022, demonstrating how targeted deregulation can boost supply without mandates or quotas.^[64] This perspective holds that true affordability emerges from competition among builders responding to consumer preferences, rather than top-down planning, which often entrenches incumbents and stifles innovation in housing forms like multifamily or modular units.^[65] Critics within broader YIMBY circles sometimes accuse market-oriented libertarians of overlooking equity concerns, yet adherents maintain that free-market reforms inherently promote mobility by lowering barriers to entry, enabling lower-income households to access desirable locations without relying on redistributive policies prone to capture.^[66] Organizations like the Cato Institute emphasize that such deregulation has cross-ideological appeal but achieves libertarian goals by minimizing coercion, as seen in Montana's 2023 zoning reforms that preempted local restrictions to allow denser development statewide, resulting in measurable upticks in housing starts.^[67] Ultimately, this viewpoint posits that sustained price suppression requires ongoing vigilance against regulatory creep, positioning YIMBYism as a bulwark against the expansion of administrative state power in land markets.^[68]

Progressive and Equity-Focused Variants

Progressive variants of the YIMBY movement emphasize housing supply increases as a tool for advancing social equity, arguing that regulatory barriers exacerbate exclusion for low-income and minority households by inflating costs and perpetuating segregation.^[69] These advocates contend that upzoning and streamlined permitting, when paired with tenant protections, can reduce rents through market mechanisms while addressing historical injustices like exclusionary zoning, which courts have linked to racial discrimination since the 1926 Euclid v. Ambler decision upheld single-family zoning that limited multifamily options in white suburbs.^[70] Organizations such as YIMBY Action have formalized this approach in their 2020 Equity Vision Statement, committing to collaborations with groups focused on homelessness, environmental justice, and economic opportunity to ensure development benefits underserved communities rather than solely market-rate projects.^[71] Equity-focused YIMBYs often support hybrid policies combining deregulation with progressive safeguards, such as California's AB 1482 (2019), a statewide rent cap and just-cause eviction measure backed by YIMBY groups to mitigate displacement risks from new construction.^[69] Proponents cite empirical examples like Auckland, New Zealand, where 2016 upzoning reforms increased housing stock by over 20% in targeted areas, correlating with stabilized rents and improved access for lower-income renters without widespread displacement, as tracked by local government data.^[69] California YIMBY's policy framework similarly integrates pro-housing reforms with equity goals, advocating for land-use changes that prioritize inclusion and environmental protections alongside abundance.^[72] Critics within leftist circles, however, argue these efforts overlook power imbalances favoring developers, but progressive YIMBYs counter that empirical supply constraints—evident in U.S. cities where zoning restricts 75% of residential land to single-family use—causally drive unaffordability more than profit motives alone.^[73] These variants distinguish themselves by framing YIMBYism as inherently reformist, aligning with progressive ideals of government intervention to expand opportunity, as articulated in analyses positing that abundance policies advance human welfare through reduced scarcity rather than redistribution alone.^[74] Groups like YIMBY Democrats of San Diego exemplify this by lobbying for Democratic platforms incorporating density bonuses for affordable units within broader deregulation efforts, influencing local wins such as 2019 zoning reforms permitting accessory dwelling units citywide.^[75] Despite internal debates over developer influence, the approach prioritizes data showing that elastic supply responses in deregulated markets, such as post-2010s Tokyo where building booms kept real rents flat amid population growth, offer scalable paths to equity without relying on subsidized construction alone.^[70]

Tensions with Traditional Left and Right Opponents

YIMBY advocacy for regulatory deregulation to boost housing supply has strained relations with traditional progressive opponents, who often view such approaches as insufficiently addressing systemic inequities and favoring corporate interests over tenant protections. Critics on the left, including some tenant rights advocates and socialists, argue that YIMBY policies exacerbate gentrification and displacement by enabling market-rate development without mandates for affordable units or robust anti-eviction measures, prioritizing supply increases as a panacea while downplaying demand-side factors like wage stagnation.^[76] ^[77] For example, in California, progressive lawmakers and activists opposed elements of YIMBY-backed bills like SB 827 in 2018 and SB 50 in 2019–2020, citing risks to low-income communities and local environmental reviews, despite the legislation aiming to upzone transit-adjacent areas for denser housing.^[78] This friction reflects a broader ideological divide, where left-NIMBYs emphasize allocation mechanisms such as rent control and vacancy controls over deregulation, perceiving YIMBYism as a neoliberal concession that undermines public housing expansions.^[79] On the right, YIMBY positions encounter resistance from conservatives who champion local zoning autonomy and single-family home preservation as bulwarks against urban density's perceived social disruptions. Traditional Republican opposition stems from fears that easing restrictions erodes property values, strains infrastructure in suburban enclaves, and imposes state-level overrides on community preferences, aligning with a preference for decentralized governance over top-down reforms.^[80] ^[81] In practice, this manifests in suburban GOP strongholds, such as parts of Texas and Montana, where despite state-level YIMBY successes—like Montana's 2023 zoning reforms allowing accessory dwelling units—local conservatives have blocked denser projects to maintain low-density lifestyles and family-oriented neighborhoods.^[82] Such tensions underscore YIMBYism's challenge to conservative cultural attachments to spacious, auto-dependent living, often framed by opponents as a liberal plot to "crowd out" traditional American suburbs.^[83]

Arguments Supporting Expanded Housing Supply

Effects on Affordability and Price Suppression

![Supply curve shifting right, lowering equilibrium price]float-right Increasing the supply of housing through deregulation and new construction has been shown empirically to suppress price growth and improve affordability by shifting the aggregate supply curve rightward, thereby reducing equilibrium rents and purchase prices under fixed demand conditions. Economic models predict that easing supply constraints moderates inflationary pressures from population growth or income rises, with peer-reviewed studies confirming localized rent reductions following construction booms.^[84] Multiple quasi-experimental analyses demonstrate that new market-rate housing lowers nearby rents, benefiting existing residents including lower-income households. For instance, a study across 11 U.S. cities using random construction delays found that new buildings reduced rents by 5-7% within 250 meters, equating to monthly savings of $100-159 as of 2023 data.^[85] Similarly, in New York City, a 10% increase in local housing stock correlated with a 1% drop in rents for nearby high- and medium-rent units.^[86] In San Francisco, post-1906 fire reconstructions and subsequent builds decreased rents by 1.2-2.3% within 500 meters.^[87] These effects extend internationally, as evidenced by German data where a 1% housing stock increase lowered rents by 0.2%.^[88] Broader regional evidence supports supply elasticity's role in affordability: areas with fewer regulatory barriers exhibit slower price appreciation during demand surges. Federal Reserve analysis from 1980-2016 indicates that a one-standard-deviation tightening of regulations raises house prices by about 10% but rents by only 3.5%, implying that reversing constraints accelerates stock growth and tempers both.^[89] Recent syntheses affirm that new construction slows rent growth most acutely for older, affordable units, countering filtering critiques by directly aiding low-income renters through competitive pressures.^[90] Upzoning policies, a core YIMBY tool, show mixed but positive associations with increased units and regional rent moderation, though outcomes vary by implementation scale and market conditions.^[91]

Mitigation of Homelessness Through Market Mechanisms

YIMBY advocates contend that homelessness is exacerbated by artificial restrictions on housing supply, such as stringent zoning laws, which inflate rents and push vulnerable populations—often those with low but non-zero incomes—beyond affordability thresholds. By reforming these regulations to permit greater construction of market-rate housing, supply increases can depress prices across the rental market through filtering effects, where units vacated by higher-income tenants become available to lower-income renters, thereby reducing the incidence of eviction and street homelessness.^[92]^[93] Empirical analyses confirm a strong positive correlation between housing cost burdens and homelessness rates. For instance, Zillow research indicates that homelessness rises at an accelerated rate in metropolitan areas where residents spend 32% or more of their income on housing, a threshold exceeded in many supply-constrained cities. Similarly, Pew Charitable Trusts data from 2017–2022 across U.S. metros shows that regions with rapid rent growth due to insufficient housing additions, such as Fresno (2.7% stock increase amid rising demand), experienced sharp homelessness spikes, while areas with slower rent escalation saw declines. Low rental vacancy rates, often resulting from regulatory barriers, predict elevated homelessness levels, as they limit options for informal doubling-up or temporary sheltering by family and friends.^[94]^[95]^[96] Cross-state comparisons underscore the role of permissive land-use policies in mitigating homelessness via market expansion. Texas, with relatively lax zoning allowing robust housing construction, recorded a 28% decline in homelessness from 2012 to 2023, contrasting with California's 43% increase amid chronic underbuilding driven by restrictive regulations. In Houston, aggressive supply growth kept homelessness rates 19 times lower than in San Francisco despite comparable population pressures, enabling effective deployment of housing-first interventions without the same shelter shortages. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates a U.S. housing shortfall of 5.5–6.8 million units over two decades, attributing much of the gap to zoning constraints that, when eased, demonstrably bolster affordability for low-income households and curb homelessness without relying solely on subsidies.^[97]^[95]^[98]

Promotion of Economic Mobility and Fair Housing

YIMBY advocates argue that restrictive land-use regulations, by limiting housing supply in economically vibrant areas, impede intergenerational mobility by confining lower-income families to neighborhoods with fewer opportunities for advancement. Research by economists Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and colleagues demonstrates that children raised in areas with higher exposure to poverty exhibit reduced earnings in adulthood, with each additional year in a low-opportunity neighborhood decreasing future income by approximately 2.4 percent.^[99] These effects stem from causal channels such as limited access to quality schools, social networks, and job markets, which zoning-induced scarcity exacerbates by inflating housing costs and segregating populations by income.^[100] Increasing housing supply in high-productivity metros, as YIMBY policies promote, would lower barriers to relocation, enabling families to access "opportunity filters" where wages and social capital are higher. Interstate migration rates have declined by over 50 percent since 1970, coinciding with rising housing regulations that trap workers in declining regions, forgoing potential income gains of up to 30 percent from moving to booming areas.^[101] Empirical analysis links housing shortages to reduced household mobility, with U.S. families moving 20-30 percent less frequently since the 1980s due to affordability constraints, thereby perpetuating cycles of low upward mobility.^[102] Deregulation in select markets, such as Houston's relatively permissive zoning, has sustained lower prices and higher inflow of lower-income migrants, correlating with better labor market matching and economic integration.^[103] On fair housing, YIMBY proponents contend that abundant supply democratizes access to desirable locations, countering the exclusionary effects of single-family zoning that historically and currently limit entry for minorities and working-class households. By reducing price premiums in opportunity-rich suburbs—often 2-3 times higher than in supply-constrained areas—expanded construction facilitates broader geographic choice, aligning with fair housing goals of non-discriminatory access rather than relying solely on mandates or subsidies.^[104] Studies indicate that supply constraints contribute to racial segregation, as high costs in integrated, high-mobility zones effectively bar non-wealthy entrants, whereas elastic supply responses in less-regulated regions promote mixing and equity without top-down interventions.^[36] This market-driven approach, YIMBYs assert, advances causal equity by addressing root scarcity over symptomatic redistribution.^[35]

Criticisms and Empirical Counterpoints

Claims of Gentrification and Displacement

Critics of YIMBY advocacy contend that policies promoting increased housing density, such as upzoning and streamlined permitting, exacerbate gentrification by attracting higher-income residents to previously affordable neighborhoods, thereby driving up land values, property taxes, and rents, which in turn displaces lower-income households.^[105] This perspective, often advanced by urban sociologists and anti-displacement activists, posits a causal chain where new market-rate developments signal desirability, induce speculative investment, and accelerate socioeconomic upgrading at the expense of incumbent vulnerable populations.^[106] For instance, analyses of gentrifying areas in cities like New York have linked zoning reforms to demographic shifts, including increased proportions of white, educated, and affluent residents in upzoned neighborhoods over the long term.^[107] Empirical research, however, largely challenges the magnitude and direct causality of these displacement effects from housing supply expansions. A causal study of San Francisco's construction boom from 2000 to 2017 found that new market-rate housing units reduced nearby rents by approximately 1-2% per additional unit per capita and showed no statistically significant increase in resident displacement rates; instead, it mitigated out-migration pressures by expanding options for lower-income households.^[108] Similarly, econometric analyses indicate that market-rate developments do not systematically elevate eviction or mobility rates among low-income groups, as any localized rent pressures are offset by broader supply-induced price moderation and vacancy increases in surrounding areas. ^[109] While some observational data reveal correlations between upzoning and gentrification indicators—such as rising median incomes or reduced poverty rates in affected tracts—these shifts often reflect voluntary in-migration and income mixing rather than forced displacement, with net regional housing affordability improving due to filtered-down units from vacated higher-end properties.^[110] A 2024 review of displacement metrics across U.S. cities concluded that new supply tends to decrease exclusionary barriers for low-income entrants and curbs overall out-migration probabilities, countering fears of widespread eviction cascades.^[105] Critics' reliance on aggregate gentrification narratives may overlook these micro-level dynamics, where baseline supply constraints—not new builds—primarily drive vulnerability to economic shocks like job loss.^[111] Nonetheless, in high-demand locales with inelastic infrastructure, unmitigated upzoning could amplify short-term transitional costs for renters, underscoring the need for complementary tenant protections.^[110]

Environmental and Infrastructure Strain Concerns

Critics argue that YIMBY advocacy for expedited housing construction intensifies pressure on urban infrastructure, potentially overwhelming systems like water distribution, sewage treatment, and roadways before expansions can be financed and implemented. Rapid population growth from new developments has been linked to infrastructure vulnerabilities, including service disruptions and resource shortages, particularly in areas with aging networks.^[112] In U.S. locales pursuing density increases, such as those targeted by multifamily projects, local opposition frequently highlights projected traffic congestion and inadequate capacity in utilities as barriers to approval.^[113] Empirical observations from urbanizing regions show that unaccompanied infrastructure upgrades can lead to bottlenecks, with historical cases in expanding cities demonstrating delays in school, transit, and waste management provisioning.^[114] Environmental apprehensions center on the localized ecological disruptions from intensified construction and density, such as habitat fragmentation, reduced permeable land for water absorption, and elevated stormwater runoff risks. Urban growth patterns associated with housing booms contribute to farmland conversion, biodiversity declines, and modifications to precipitation and energy cycles.^[115] Increased impervious surfaces in denser developments exacerbate urban heat islands and pollutant concentrations, while construction phases generate temporary spikes in emissions and waste.^[116] Systematic reviews of densification strategies reveal mixed outcomes, with some evidence of heightened local environmental loads despite potential efficiencies in resource use.^[117] Countervailing data, however, suggest these strains may be context-dependent and less severe than alternatives like peripheral sprawl. Peer-reviewed modeling indicates that elevating urban density lowers per capita CO2 emissions by optimizing shared infrastructure and reducing travel distances, though aggregate emissions rise proportionally with population.^[118] Infrastructure challenges often stem from regulatory delays rather than inherent overload, as development fees and phased permitting can align capacity expansions with growth; in practice, underbuilding perpetuates inefficiencies by spreading fixed costs over fewer units.^[119] These empirical nuances underscore that while short-term strains warrant mitigation through concurrent investments, blanket opposition risks entrenching higher long-term environmental costs from dispersed, low-density expansion.

Debates Over Supply Elasticity and Developer Incentives

A central debate within housing policy discourse concerns the elasticity of housing supply—the degree to which new construction responds to rising prices—and its implications for affordability strategies advocated by YIMBY proponents. YIMBY advocates argue that regulatory barriers, such as zoning restrictions and permitting delays, render supply highly inelastic in high-demand U.S. cities, exacerbating price surges; empirical measures like those developed by Saiz (2010), which incorporate geographic constraints and regulatory indices, estimate elasticities often below 1 in constrained metros, implying that deregulation could significantly boost output and moderate rents.^[120] However, recent analyses challenge this causality, finding that supply elasticity does not systematically predict divergent price or quantity growth patterns across cities from 2000 to 2020; for instance, a 2025 Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco working paper by Louie, Mondragon, and Wieland, using multiple elasticity proxies (including Saiz and regulation indices), shows income growth drives comparable expansions in prices, units, and population irrespective of local constraints, with estimated elasticities averaging around 1 and no significant interaction effects.^[120] ^[121] Critics further contend that even modest elasticities observed empirically may reflect not just regulations but entrenched demand pressures and amenity values, undermining the expectation that upzoning alone yields substantial affordability gains; the Louie et al. study concludes that relaxing constraints via YIMBY-style reforms like upzoning would have negligible effects on national or metro-level outcomes, as demand-side factors dominate market dynamics.^[120] Supply skeptics, drawing on case studies like Chicago's upzoning episodes, highlight how such reforms often fail to spur construction in the short-to-medium term, instead inflating land values through speculative anticipation without proportional unit additions.^[7] ^[122] Debates over developer incentives intensify these concerns, questioning whether eased regulations align builders' profit motives with broad supply increases or merely confer windfalls. YIMBY responses emphasize that broad upzoning fosters competition, enabling smaller developers to enter markets and accelerating filtering—where new luxury units free up existing stock for lower-income households—supported by localized rent reductions observed in studies of new construction impacts.^[123] ^[124] Yet empirical evidence on filtering reveals variability and delays, with some analyses indicating it produces affordable rentals slowly or unevenly across metros, potentially insufficient against rapid demand growth; critics argue developers, facing high upfront costs and risks, prioritize high-margin projects, capturing rezoning value via land banks rather than dense, affordable builds, as seen in limited post-reform output in reformed areas like Auckland.^[125] ^[7] This misalignment, they posit, necessitates complementary measures like value capture taxes to redirect incentives toward public benefits, rather than relying on market responses alone.^[126]

Policy Tools and Implementation Strategies

Upzoning, Density Reforms, and Permitting Streamlining

Upzoning refers to amendments in zoning regulations that permit higher residential densities, such as increasing floor area ratios or allowing multi-unit structures in areas previously restricted to single-family homes.^[127] Density reforms complement this by eliminating or relaxing restrictions on building heights, lot coverage, and unit types, enabling constructions like duplexes, triplexes, and apartment buildings in suburban or low-density zones.^[128] These measures seek to expand permissible housing supply by overriding exclusionary land-use rules that constrain development.^[110] A prominent example is Minneapolis's 2040 Comprehensive Plan, adopted in December 2018, which eliminated exclusive single-family zoning across the city and legalized triplexes and small apartment buildings by right in former single-family districts, while also removing parking minimums near transit.^[128] Initial analyses indicate limited short-term increases in housing supply, with one study finding no significant rise in multi-family permits and a decline in single-family permits through 2021, though longer-term effects remain under evaluation.^[129] ^[130] In Oregon, House Bill 2001, enacted in 2019, mandated middle housing—duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, and cottage clusters—in single-family zones for cities over 25,000 residents, resulting in an approximate 450-unit annual increase in middle housing permits across larger cities by 2023.^[131] ^[132] California's Senate Bill 9, effective January 2022, authorizes lot splits and duplexes on single-family parcels in urban areas, with early implementation showing slow adoption—fewer than 1,000 parcels split statewide by mid-2023—but accelerating in locales like San Diego, where homeowners began subdividing lots for sale and development.^[133] ^[134] Permitting streamlining involves shortening approval timelines, minimizing discretionary reviews, and standardizing processes to cut administrative delays and costs in housing development.^[135] In the U.S., the average time from building permit submission to single-family home completion rose by three months between 2015 and 2023, underscoring the drag of protracted permitting on supply.^[136] Reforms, such as ministerial approvals—where projects meeting predefined criteria receive automatic approval without public hearings—can shave months or years off timelines, as seen in proposals for expedited processes in states like Arizona, which passed third-party permitting for single-family homes in 2025.^[137] ^[53] Empirical assessments link faster permitting to higher construction rates, though implementation varies by locality, with some cities achieving reductions through digital workflows and pre-approved designs.^[138] YIMBY advocates emphasize combining these tools, arguing that upzoning without streamlined permitting fails to materialize supply gains due to persistent regulatory friction.^[139]

State-Level Overrides of Local Restrictions

State legislatures in several U.S. jurisdictions have enacted laws preempting local zoning authority to mandate allowances for increased housing density, aiming to counteract restrictive municipal ordinances that limit supply and exacerbate affordability crises. These overrides typically require cities to permit duplexes, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), or multifamily developments in areas previously zoned exclusively for single-family homes, bypassing local vetoes rooted in community opposition. Proponents argue that such measures address externalities of local parochialism, where suburbs and small towns impose barriers benefiting incumbents at the expense of broader regional housing needs.^[53]^[140] In California, Senate Bill 9 (SB 9), signed into law on September 16, 2021, authorizes lot splits and up to two primary units plus ADUs on parcels zoned for single-family homes in cities with populations over 5,000, effectively overriding local single-family exclusivity rules. By January 2023, the first year of implementation saw over 1,000 applications statewide, primarily for lot splits and duplexes, though actual construction lagged due to local permitting delays, environmental reviews, and high costs, with critics noting fewer than 500 units completed by mid-2024. Building on this, Senate Bill 79, passed in September 2025, further preempts local zoning near transit corridors to allow up to six-story developments by right, targeting high-demand urban areas but facing implementation hurdles from entrenched municipal resistance. Empirical assessments indicate modest supply gains—SB 9 contributed to a 5-10% uptick in permitted units in select suburbs—but fall short of projections for tens of thousands annually, underscoring limits when overrides do not fully dismantle discretionary approvals.^[59]^[141]^[53] Oregon's House Bill 2001, enacted July 2019, mandates duplexes on all lots zoned for single-family homes in cities over 10,000 residents and "middle housing" (triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes) in larger urban zones, preempting local bans on such configurations. Post-implementation, multifamily permitting rose 20-30% in affected cities like Portland by 2022, with duplex construction increasing notably in low-density neighborhoods, though total housing starts grew only 5-7% statewide due to labor shortages and financing constraints rather than zoning alone. The law's standardized model code reduced local customization, facilitating compliance, yet some municipalities imposed indirect barriers like parking minima, prompting 2025 amendments to enforce stricter preemption.^[142]^[131] Montana's reforms, accelerated since 2023, exemplify aggressive preemption: Senate Bill 382 and related measures limit local zoning to prohibit minimum lot sizes over one acre, apartment bans, and excessive setbacks, while capping impact fees and streamlining permits statewide. By September 2025, these changes yielded a "Montana miracle," with residential permits surging 40% year-over-year in mid-sized cities, ADU approvals tripling, and median home prices stabilizing amid 15,000+ new units permitted—outpacing national averages—attributed to reduced regulatory friction without relying on subsidies. Legal challenges from localities asserting home rule have faltered, affirming states' superior authority over land use externalities.^[143]^[144] Virginia's House Bill 6107 (2021) preempts local caps on multifamily units and discriminatory zoning against lower-income housing, while proposals like single-staircase allowances for mid-rise buildings aim to override height and egress restrictions, though full duplex mandates in single-family zones failed in 2020 amid suburban pushback. Implementation has spurred 10-15% more multifamily approvals in Northern Virginia by 2024, but uneven enforcement highlights tensions between state mandates and local autonomy claims. Overall, these overrides demonstrate causal links to supply expansion where decisively enforced, as in Montana, versus incremental gains in California and Oregon, where residual local discretion dilutes impact—empirical evidence prioritizing uniform preemption over voluntary reforms.^[145]^[146]^[140]

Federal and International Policy Parallels

In the United States, federal efforts to parallel YIMBY advocacy for increased housing supply have primarily focused on incentivizing local reforms through legislative measures tied to funding eligibility, rather than direct overrides of zoning authority. The bipartisan Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) Caucus was launched in the House of Representatives on November 21, 2024, co-chaired by Representatives Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), aiming to promote policies that reduce barriers to housing development and support diverse housing types.^[147]^[148] The YIMBY Act, reintroduced in the 117th Congress in 2021 by Senator Todd Young (R-IN) and passed by the House Financial Services Committee in subsequent sessions, requires recipients of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to report annually on zoning and land-use barriers to multifamily and affordable housing, while prioritizing funding for jurisdictions demonstrating progress in reducing such restrictions.^[149]^[150] This approach leverages federal resources to encourage deregulation without preempting local control outright, though critics argue it lacks enforcement teeth to compel substantive change.^[151] Internationally, several nations have implemented national-level policies that echo YIMBY principles by standardizing or preempting local restrictions to boost housing supply, often prioritizing market responsiveness over localized opposition. In Japan, the national government enforces uniform zoning categories under the 1950 City Planning Act and subsequent amendments, which permit a wide range of densities and uses by default—such as allowing small-lot multifamily buildings in residential zones—resulting in consistent annual housing starts exceeding 800,000 units as of 2022, even amid population stagnation.^[152] This framework minimizes local veto power, fostering supply elasticity that has kept real housing prices stable or declining in major metros like Tokyo since the 1990s, contrasting with more fragmented regulatory environments elsewhere.^[153] Similar dynamics appear in New Zealand, where the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), updated in 2020 and reinforced through 2024 reforms, mandates councils to enable "sufficient development capacity" for housing in high-growth areas, overriding restrictive local plans that limit intensification; this led to a 20% increase in consented dwellings in urban zones by 2023.^[154] In the United Kingdom, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 empowers central government to intervene in local planning decisions deemed obstructive, streamlining approvals for "gray belt" development and upzoning, with initial implementations in 2024 targeting 1.5 million new homes by mandating local plans align with national supply targets.^[155] These policies reflect a causal emphasis on supply-side reforms to address shortages, though empirical outcomes vary based on enforcement rigor and economic context, with Japan's model demonstrating long-term price moderation unattributed to demand subsidies alone.^[154]^[153]

Regional Movements and Case Studies

United States Developments

The YIMBY movement emerged in the United States during the mid-2010s, primarily in response to acute housing shortages and rising costs in high-demand coastal cities following the 2007-2008 financial crisis. It originated in the San Francisco Bay Area, where informal advocacy began around 2013 through efforts like Laura Trauss's letter-writing campaigns against restrictive zoning, evolving into organized groups pushing for increased density to boost supply. By the late 2010s, the movement had spread nationally, influencing policy debates in cities facing similar affordability crises, with proponents arguing that easing land-use restrictions would align housing supply more closely with demand.^[33]^[35] Key organizations have driven this expansion, including YIMBY Action, founded in San Francisco and now operating as a national network with 67 chapters across 27 states as of 2025, providing training, funding, and coordination for local pro-housing efforts. California YIMBY, active since the mid-2010s, focuses on state-level lobbying, while groups like the Welcoming Neighbors Network emphasize community base-building. Annual YIMBYtown conferences, starting in 2019, have facilitated knowledge-sharing among advocates, with the 2025 event in New Haven, Connecticut, highlighting momentum from recent urban reforms in places like New York City and Austin.^[156]^[157]^[158]^[159] Notable policy achievements include California's SB 9, signed into law on September 16, 2021, which permits owners of single-family lots larger than 2,400 square feet to split them into two units or build up to four units total with owner occupancy requirements, effectively dismantling exclusive single-family zoning statewide. Subsequent efforts like SB 79, enacted October 10, 2025, override local zoning to allow heights up to 55 feet or four stories near transit corridors with existing infrastructure, aiming to add thousands of units without mandating new services. In Minneapolis, the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, adopted December 2018 and implemented from 2020, eliminated single-family zoning citywide, permitting triplexes and small apartments on all residential lots; while challenged in courts and linked to a 3-5% home price increase per a 2021 Iowa State study, it remains a landmark YIMBY-influenced reform credited with enabling denser development.^[44]^[160]^[161]^[162]^[163] State-level overrides proliferated in 2025, with legislatures in Washington and others passing reforms easing permitting, reducing parking mandates, and simplifying zoning for multifamily housing in urban cores, marking record progress in making such projects financially viable. Cities like Austin saw upzoning victories allowing accessory dwelling units and density bonuses, while New York advanced reforms permitting more units near transit despite opposition. These developments reflect a shift toward supply-focused policies, though implementation challenges persist, as evidenced by slower-than-expected production under earlier laws like California's SB 9.^[53]^[164]^[165]^[166]

European and Other International Efforts

In the United Kingdom, YIMBY advocacy has emerged prominently through organizations like the YIMBY Alliance, which campaigns for planning system reforms to facilitate higher-density housing, including targeted development on underutilized green belt land and reductions in bureaucratic delays.^[167] This aligns with pro-building sentiments within the Labour Party, where supporters in 2024 pushed for accelerated infrastructure and housing projects, even in protected areas, amid chronic shortages.^[168] Surveys in London indicate broad public backing for such principles, particularly among millennials and those favoring Labour or Liberal Democrat policies, with a majority of residents expressing openness to nearby development.^[169] Continental European YIMBY efforts are more limited, with organized chapters noted only in Sweden and the Netherlands as of 2024, reflecting weaker grassroots mobilization compared to Anglo-Saxon countries.^[170] In the Netherlands, advocates critique policies like the 2025 nationwide rent freeze for affordable housing, arguing they deter supply increases, and push for deregulation to enable urban infill.^[171] Germany lacks a substantive YIMBY movement despite acute urban shortages, with political discourse in 2021 elections sidelining infill development in high-demand areas in favor of peripheral expansion.^[172] Ireland shows emerging youth-driven YIMBY sentiment, fueled by barriers to homeownership, though formalized groups remain nascent.^[173] Beyond Europe, Australia hosts active YIMBY groups such as YIMBY Melbourne, which since 2017 has lobbied for zoning changes to promote "missing middle" housing like duplexes and townhouses in suburbs, critiquing restrictive planning as a core driver of affordability crises.^[174] These efforts gained policy traction by 2025, influencing debates on national reforms amid rising political support for density in cities like Sydney and Melbourne.^[3]^[175] In Canada, YIMBY influence contributed to Toronto's 2023 legalization of fourplexes by right across the city, easing restrictions on low-rise multifamily units to boost supply, though implementation faced local resistance.^[176] Canadian advocates also explore innovative financing like localized real estate investment trusts to align community incentives with development.^[177]

Comparative Outcomes and Lessons

Comparative analyses of YIMBY-influenced reforms reveal that jurisdictions implementing substantial zoning liberalization, such as New Zealand's national upzoning policies enacted from 2016 onward, have achieved marked increases in housing supply, with consents reaching 9.7 units per 1,000 residents in 2022—a 45-year high nearly double U.S. rates—correlating with moderated price growth in reformed areas like Auckland, where values rose 20% post-reform compared to 65% elsewhere.^[178]^[179] In contrast, U.S. cases like California's SB 9, effective January 2022 and permitting up to four units in single-family zones via ministerial approval, have yielded limited construction—fewer than 1,000 parcels subdivided by mid-2023—due to constraints including owner-occupancy requirements and local fee burdens, resulting in negligible impacts on statewide supply amid ongoing affordability crises.^[133]^[180] Minneapolis's 2040 Plan, adopted in 2018 as the first major U.S. city to abolish single-family-exclusive zoning, boosted multifamily permitting by over 20% in the first three years, enabling rent growth below national averages and contributing to a 5-10% decline in real home prices by 2023, though subsequent construction slowdowns and demand fluctuations tempered long-term gains.^[57]^[50]^[128] Austin, Texas, following similar density reforms, exhibited accelerated apartment completions and stabilized rents relative to NIMBY-dominant metros like San Francisco, where persistent restrictions correlate with 30-50% higher median rents.^[181] European efforts, such as those in select UK cities easing greenbelt constraints, show incremental supply gains but lag behind bolder interventions, underscoring slower affordability improvements versus U.S. or Oceanic counterparts.^[182] Key lessons from these outcomes emphasize that supply elasticity hinges on comprehensive deregulation beyond zoning—encompassing permitting acceleration and parking minimum eliminations—to elicit developer response, as partial measures like SB 9 often fail due to residual barriers.^[183] Reforms overriding local vetoes, as in New Zealand's centralized approach, prove more efficacious in scaling supply against entrenched opposition, yielding causal reductions in per-unit land costs and price inflation.^[184] Empirical data affirm that increased construction moderates rents and prices in high-demand contexts, countering displacement fears absent evidence of net outflows, though sustained efficacy requires monitoring demand drivers like migration.^[185]^[186] International parallels highlight the necessity of political insulation from NIMBY capture, with successes in Auckland and Minneapolis demonstrating that proactive supply expansion fosters broader economic mobility without exacerbating inequality when paired with market responsiveness.^[165]

YIGBY and Faith-Based Housing Advocacy

YIGBY, an acronym for "Yes In God's Backyard," refers to a policy and advocacy framework that facilitates the development of affordable housing on land owned by faith-based organizations, particularly houses of worship with underutilized properties.^[187]^[188] This approach draws on religious doctrines emphasizing care for the poor and homeless, positioning faith communities as key actors in alleviating housing shortages through streamlined regulatory processes.^[189]^[190] Proponents argue that churches and similar institutions hold vast real estate holdings—estimated at millions of acres nationwide—much of which remains vacant or low-intensity, offering a ready supply for low-income and supportive housing without competing for scarce public land.^[191] The movement originated in San Diego in 2019, where advocates collaborated with lawmakers to enact ordinances exempting faith-based affordable housing projects from certain local zoning and permitting hurdles, specifically targeting homelessness.^[192]^[193] This model has since expanded, with organizations like YIGBY Housing in California partnering cross-sector experts in design, policy, and finance to activate church properties for vulnerable populations.^[189] In Idaho, LEAP Housing promotes YIGBY collaborations between faith groups and developers to produce affordable units, emphasizing community-driven solutions over government mandates.^[194] Nationally, estimates suggest that redeveloping underused faith-owned land could yield over 800,000 housing units, leveraging existing infrastructure like parking lots and adjacent buildings to minimize costs and opposition.^[191] Legislative efforts underscore the advocacy's momentum. At the federal level, the Yes in God's Backyard Act (S.3910, 118th Congress, introduced March 12, 2024, by Sen. Sherrod Brown) proposes technical assistance and grants for faith organizations and higher education institutions to build affordable rentals, including provisions for density bonuses and expedited reviews.^[195] A companion bill (S.2720, 119th Congress, introduced September 2025) continues this push, referred to the Senate Banking Committee.^[196] States have followed suit: Florida incorporated YIGBY provisions into House Bill 1339 in 2025, allowing religious entities to develop housing without rezoning under specific affordability criteria.^[197]^[198] New York advanced the Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act in April 2025, mandating municipalities to permit residential construction on solely owned religious parcels, with height and density allowances up to 3.6 times local norms for 100% affordable projects.^[199]^[200] Columbus, Ohio, initiated a similar council-led program in September 2025 to waive regulatory barriers for faith-based developments.^[201] Faith-based advocacy integrates theological motivations with pragmatic policy, often framing housing development as a fulfillment of scriptural calls to shelter the needy, countering "Not In My Backyard" (NIMBY) resistance through moral authority and institutional exemptions.^[190]^[202] Groups like Lutheran Services in America endorse YIGBY as an innovative expansion of accessible housing, partnering with developers to navigate financing while preserving core worship spaces.^[203] Critics, including some urban planners, caution that such exemptions could strain local infrastructure or dilute community input, though empirical data from early implementations show accelerated project timelines—e.g., San Diego's model reduced approval periods from years to months—without widespread reported disruptions.^[187]^[204] This intersection of religious stewardship and housing reform positions YIGBY as a niche evolution of broader pro-development movements, prioritizing targeted supply increases via non-governmental land assets.^[205]

Distinctions from Adjacent Urbanist Movements

The YIMBY movement differentiates itself from Smart Growth primarily through its uncompromising emphasis on expanding housing supply via deregulation, rather than managed growth strategies that may inadvertently constrain total development. Smart Growth, as articulated by organizations like Smart Growth America, prioritizes infill development, urban growth boundaries, and preservation of rural lands to curb sprawl, which can limit overall housing production in high-demand regions by channeling growth into designated areas. In contrast, YIMBY advocates reject such boundaries, arguing they exacerbate shortages by capping supply; empirical analyses of regions like Portland, Oregon, where urban growth boundaries correlate with persistent housing price inflation, underscore this critique, as supply restrictions fail to align with demand elasticities observed in deregulated markets.^[206] YIMBY also parts ways with New Urbanism, which stresses prescriptive design codes for walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods inspired by pre-automobile patterns, often requiring form-based regulations that can slow permitting and raise costs. New Urbanism, formalized in the 1993 Charter of the New Urbanism, seeks to enforce aesthetic and functional standards like street grids and building frontages to foster community cohesion, but YIMBY proponents prioritize rapid quantity over such qualitative mandates, accepting market-driven forms—including high-rise apartments or minimalist structures—if they increase units efficiently. This divergence manifests in debates where New Urbanists critique YIMBY-backed upzoning for enabling "anywhere" architecture devoid of local character, while YIMBY evidence from cities like Minneapolis post-2019 zoning reforms shows density bonuses yielding measurable rent stabilization without mandatory design overlays.^[207] Relative to Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), YIMBY extends beyond transit-adjacent mandates, advocating broad deregulation across urban fabrics to maximize supply where demand exists, not solely near infrastructure. TOD frameworks, prevalent in policies like California's SB 375 (2008), tie density to existing rail or bus corridors to leverage public investments, but this can bottleneck production in non-transit zones, ignoring broader market signals; YIMBY analyses reveal that restricting development to TOD slivers, as in Seattle's urban villages, sustains scarcity elsewhere, whereas unrestricted zoning correlates with faster supply responses and lower per-unit costs nationwide.^[208]^[209] These distinctions highlight YIMBY's causal focus on regulatory barriers as the primary affordability choke point, substantiated by econometric models linking zoning liberalization to 10-20% price reductions in reformed jurisdictions like Houston's lightly regulated market.

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Dec 4, 2024 · But this strategy of trying to counter the NIMBYs in public life faces inherent scaling limitations.
[59]
California's HOME Act Turns One: Data and Insights from the First ...
Jan 18, 2023 · SB 9 allows homeowners to create up to four homes on an existing parcel, in effect, eliminating single-family-only zoning.
[60]
The Constitutional Case against Exclusionary Zoning | Cato Institute
Jun 12, 2024 · Exclusionary zoning slows economic growth, severely limits economic mobility, and imposes burdens that disproportionately fall on racial minorities.
[61]
Libertarians on Property Rights, NIMBYism, Affordable Housing
Oct 20, 2019 · Libertarians believe the best way for government to support affordable housing would be reduce zoning, regulations, permits, building codes regarding building ...<|separator|>
[62]
YIMBYs Are Winning Local Housing Battles, but Can ... - Cato Institute
Mar 27, 2024 · This passage gets to the perhaps the biggest debate between “Yes In My Backyard” (YIMBY) advocates who want to deregulate housing markets and ...
[63]
Libertarianism Is the True Abundance Ideology - Cato Institute
Sep 5, 2025 · Zohran Mamdani may want zoning reform to increase the housing supply, but he also backs housing affordability quotas, prevailing wage mandates, ...
[64]
Bribing homeowners to build tiny houses won't solve NYC's housing ...
Nov 27, 2023 · “Between 2019 and 2022 the number of ADUs permitted grew 88%,” the Cato Institute reports. ... zoning reform. Proposals to allow ...
[65]
Cross-Ideological Common Ground on Exclusionary Zoning
Jul 23, 2023 · Policy analyst Justin Hayes summarizes the reasons why conservatives, progressives, and libertarians all have reason to support zoning reform.
[66]
Americans Worried about Housing Costs, Open to YIMBY
Sep 28, 2022 · For families with young children, not only can reforming zoning alleviate budget pressures and allow growing families to buy or rent the space ...
[67]
Rent Control Isn't the Answer to State's Housing Crisis | Cato Institute
Aug 13, 2025 · YIMBY zoning reform unites experts across the political spectrum. Supporters range from progressives such as Furman and former president Joe ...
[68]
Yimby and Liberty - Marginal REVOLUTION
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[69]
The Case for Progressive YIMBYism - by Sam Deutsch - Better Cities
Aug 28, 2023 · YIMBY groups strongly supported AB1482 in California, a rent cap and just cause eviction law. Most YIMBYs recognize that anti-displacement ...
[70]
Housing For All: The Case for Progressive YIMBYism - Sam Deutsch
Apr 15, 2021 · This essay presents the case for pro-housing, YIMBY policies from a progressive lens. ... equity firm) admitting in their annual report ...
[71]
Equity Vision Statement - YIMBY Action
We invest in building nourishing, productive relationships with organizations tackling homelessness, environmental justice, transportation access, economic ...
[72]
Policy Framework - California YIMBY
The California YIMBY policy agenda focuses on pro-housing land use reforms that will put California back on the path to broad-based economic prosperity. But the ...Missing: 2010s key
[73]
The Rise of the YIMBYs: A National Pro-Housing Movement
Apr 2, 2021 · With its origins in redlining and segregation, single-family zoning had imprinted perverse incentives on the body politic: “While explicit ...Missing: 2008 | Show results with:2008
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[PDF] YIMBYism is as progressive as it gets - Catalysts for Local Control
Progressivism is a movement to advance the human condition through social reform. Its policies are based on the idea that government should have a role in.
[75]
YIMBY in action: How pro-housing policies became a political ...
Jun 28, 2019 · One of the best examples is the YIMBY Democrats of San Diego, a ... Why affordable housing is scarce in progressive cities · Why buying a ...
[76]
The Case Against YIMBYism | The New Republic
Mar 15, 2024 · YIMBYs have prioritized other political confrontations, such as picking fights with obstructionist homeowners, anti-gentrification politicians, ...<|separator|>
[77]
Parts of the YIMBY Movement Are Moving Left - Jacobin
Oct 7, 2022 · There are a few anti-YIMBY voices on the Left that attack us, but it's always the far right that we have to deal with as the fundamental enemy.
[78]
A YIMBY and a “Left NIMBY” Duke it Out - Current Affairs
Nov 11, 2022 · The left NIMBY rejects there's any housing shortage and thinks of housing as exclusively an allocation issue. … Left NIMBYs are big vacancy ...
[79]
Why is the socialist Left so hostile to YIMBYism?
Feb 15, 2023 · The reason why such a loose YIMBY alliance won't happen is that the modern Left is hyper-tribal, and status-obsessed. For too many people, ...
[80]
The YIMBY Movement Is for Conservatives, Too - National Review
Jun 30, 2024 · Many conservatives worry that the pro-housing YIMBY (“Yes, In My Backyard”) movement is not for them, or even hostile to young families.
[81]
Is the YIMBY Movement Failing?: News Article - Independent Institute
Sep 16, 2025 · Or YIMBYs could avoid social issues altogether and just talk housing, noting how the shortage is creating a nation of renters. Above all, ...
[82]
Red State YIMBYs Lead the Way - City Journal
Aug 25, 2025 · But conservative governance principles sometimes clash with conservative lifestyle preferences. In recent years, President Donald Trump has ...Missing: conflicts | Show results with:conflicts
[83]
Is YIMBY really becoming a political force? - Kevin Drum
Aug 22, 2024 · Republicans in recent years have relentlessly accused Democrats of wanting to squash everyone into crowded apartment buildings in cities. They ...
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[PDF] A Summary of Supply Skepticism Revisited - NYU Furman Center
While we concluded that both the theory and then-existing empirical evidence supported the premise that adding new homes moderates price increases and thus.Missing: suppression | Show results with:suppression
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http://andreas-mense.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SecondaryHousingSupply.pdf
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[PDF] Evidence from Rents, Housing Consumption and Household Location
We examine how housing supply constraints affect housing affordability, which we define as the quality-adjusted price of housing services. In our dynamic model, ...
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New Housing Slows Rent Growth Most for Older, More Affordable ...
Jul 31, 2025 · Crucially, rent growth slowed most for Class C units, demonstrating that the additional supply was especially helpful to people living in lower- ...
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Zoning Change | Urban Institute
Apr 5, 2023 · There is some evidence that increased values are associated with more units and lower rents at the upzoned, municipal, and regional scales, but ...
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Why housing shortages cause homelessness - Works in Progress
Dec 5, 2024 · Housing advocates are convinced that expanding the supply and lowering the price of market-rate housing will decrease homelessness. But many ...
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[PDF] Reducing and Preventing Homelessness: A Review of the Evidence ...
Restricted housing supply could cause higher rents and greater homelessness in these places. However, we have little evidence on how policies relaxing ...<|separator|>
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Housing Supply and the Drivers of Homelessness
Feb 7, 2023 · Research by Zillow shows homelessness increases at a faster rate in places where people spend 32% or more of their income on housing on average, ...
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How Housing Costs Drive Levels of Homelessness
Aug 22, 2023 · The evidence shows that allowing more lower-cost housing, such as apartments or individual rooms with shared facilities, can help solve both ...
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How States and Cities Decimated Americans' Lowest-Cost Housing ...
Jul 17, 2025 · Several studies have found low rental vacancy rates strongly predict high levels of homelessness ... The city's zoning and building codes made it ...
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How California homeless services compare with Texas - CalMatters
Jun 28, 2023 · Texas recorded a 28% drop in homelessness since 2012, while California's homeless population grew by 43%. What's behind the diverging trends, ...
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California Can't Curb Homelessness? Look What Texas Cities Have ...
Apr 19, 2024 · Over the longer term, homelessness in Los Angeles rose 56 percent between 2015 and 2022, while it declined in Houston by 32 percent. So what is ...
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The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility I
We study this question using data from de-identified tax records on more than five million children whose families moved across counties between 1996 and 2012.
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Feb 10, 2018 · We show that the neighborhoods in which children grow up shape their earnings, college attendance rates, and fertility and marriage patterns.
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Stuck: How Housing Regulation Ended America's Mobility Revolution
Sep 2, 2025 · But that mobility has collapsed, falling by more than half since 1970. In this episode, University of Chicago economist Peter Ganong and ...Missing: deregulation | Show results with:deregulation
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How a Shortage of Housing Supply Reduces Social - and Economic
Nov 17, 2021 · Key takeaways: Following the slowdown in new construction after the Great Recession, local mobility fell by a third from 2010-2019.
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More Evidence of How Housing Regulation Is Bad for Housing - AEI
Jun 5, 2025 · That's not just a housing shortage, it's a productivity catastrophe representing millions of people unable to access economic opportunity.
[104]
Abundant Housing Creates Abundant Opportunities - YIMBY Action
A future of abundant housing is a future where everyone has access to opportunity and upward mobility.
[105]
Can New Housing Supply Mitigate Displacement and Exclusion?
Mar 29, 2024 · In theory, new housing supply can lead to decreases in both displacement (increased probability of household out-migration) and exclusion ( ...
[106]
YIMBY: The Latest Frontier of Gentrification - Wyly
Dec 21, 2021 · YIMBY activism reveals the evolutionary frontiers of escalating competition legitimating itself on a gentrifying urban planet.
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[108]
Does Building New Housing Cause Displacement?: The Supply and ...
Jun 28, 2021 · This paper identifies the causal impact of new construction on nearby rents, displacement, and gentrification in San Francisco
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No, Really. Building More Housing Can Combat Rising Rents
Nov 20, 2023 · Building more can slow rent growth in cities and free up more affordable vacant units in surrounding neighborhoods, without causing significant displacement.
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The double-edged sword of upzoning - Brookings Institution
Jul 15, 2021 · Cities are in desperate need of more housing, but exclusionary zoning practices often thwart housing growth. Indeed, a growing body of evidence ...
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Do New Market-Rate Buildings Displace Low-Income People?
Mar 15, 2025 · New market-rate housing production slightly increases displacement for lower-income people, and slightly decreases moving out for high-income people.
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The risks of rapid urbanization in developing countries
Apr 13, 2023 · These urbanization risks include increased social instability, threats to critical infrastructure, potential shortages of water and other vital resources.
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The YIMBY push for multifamily housing hits a 'nope' from ...
Sep 16, 2024 · In court challenges around the country, opponents have cited spikes in traffic, strains to infrastructure, displacement of low-income residents, ...
[114]
How Urbanization is Shaping and Straining Public Infrastructure
Jan 22, 2025 · Urbanization creates vibrant communities, it places significant strain on infrastructure systems that are often not designed to handle the capacity demands ...
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Environmental Impacts of Urban Growth | Seto Lab - Yale University
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Systematic review and comparison of densification effects and ...
Apr 20, 2021 · This paper examines the effectiveness of higher density (as a means) for achieving sustainable urban development (the goal) following three lines of enquiry.
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Effects of changing population or density on urban carbon dioxide ...
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Urban resilience: Multidimensional perspectives, challenges and ...
This manuscript investigates the multifaceted concept of urban resilience amidst escalating urbanization and environmental challenges.
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[PDF] Supply Constraints Do Not Explain House Price and Quantity ...
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Feb 25, 2020 · We find that US housing supply has become less elastic since the crisis, with bigger declines in places where land-use regulation has tightened the most.
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Isn't zoning and planning reform just a giveaway to developers?
Research has shown that broad upzoning makes markets more competitive, and enables more small developers to operate viably.
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[PDF] Supply Skepticism: Housing Supply and Affordability
Aug 20, 2018 · Empirical research shows that filtering is not just a theory posited on the pages of economic textbooks, but it in fact occurs in real ...
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What's the Value of “Value Capture”? - California YIMBY
Sep 27, 2021 · A new essay by UCLA's Michael Manville delivers a strong critique of the method many cities use to extract fees and concessions in exchange ...
[127]
What Is Upzoning? | Planopedia - Planetizen
Upzoning is a commonly used term in urban planning that describes an alteration to a community's zoning code to allow new capacity for development.
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Minneapolis Land Use Reforms Offer a Blueprint for Housing ...
Jan 4, 2024 · In Minneapolis 2040, the city added several zoning districts that increase the amount of housing that can be constructed near transit and along ...Missing: 2020s | Show results with:2020s
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Does Upzoning Affect Housing Supply and Affordability? Evidence ...
Aug 25, 2025 · The study found little evidence of significant short-term effects of upzoning on housing supply or prices in Minneapolis, suggesting longer ...
[130]
[PDF] An Intermediate Term Analysis of The Minneapolis 2040
Upzoning in Minneapolis led to a reduction in single-family permits, but no significant change in total or multi-family permits.
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A Bipartisan Vision for the Benefits of Middle Housing: The Case of ...
Dec 21, 2023 · In 2019, Oregon became the first state in the nation to legalize duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes—commonly known as middle housing—statewide.
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Some Oregon cities see 'middle housing' surge, but rollout is uneven
Mar 8, 2025 · Across Oregon's larger cities, middle housing permits accounted for nearly 1,600 new homes annually after HB 2001, an increase of about 450 new ...<|separator|>
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Senate Bill 9's Underwhelming First Year Shouldn't Be a Surprise
Feb 10, 2023 · The legislation allows homeowners to convert a single-family home into a duplex or split a single-family lot into two parcels, with the potential to build a ...
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Jan 9, 2025 · The average time from submitting a building permit to completing a single-family home in America increased by three months from 2015 to 2023.
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Cities can and should streamline housing approvals
Apr 25, 2024 · Efficient and responsive permitting processes can mean months or even years of difference in getting housing projects online.
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Flexible Zoning and Streamlined Procedures Can Make Housing ...
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Solutions - YIMBY Action
Our inclusive housing policies will help shrink the racial wealth gap, reduce displacement, reduce carbon emissions, and give more people access to jobs and ...
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Aug 23, 2023 · Local zoning rules—including apartment bans, minimum lot size requirements, and single-family zoning—and slow permit approval processes are key ...
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Jul 3, 2019 · Oregon is getting national attention for becoming the first state to pass legislation that eliminates exclusive single-family zoning in much of the state.
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Sep 5, 2025 · “Not only do state policymakers have the authority to limit local zoning rules, they have an obligation to do so when these restrictions cause ...
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Sep 3, 2025 · Third, pro-housing reforms may be subject to lawsuits, but statewide limits on local zoning authority are on strong legal ground. Highlights ...
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Zoning Reform Efforts - HousingForward Virginia
HB 6107, a sweeping reform bill passed in 2021, forbids local zoning that caps the number of multifamily housing units or discriminates against lower-income ...
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Feb 28, 2025 · However, if a locality failed to take action, the state would have had the authority to override zoning decisions. Much like his work with ...
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Up for Growth Action Applauds Formation of Bipartisan YIMBY ...
Nov 21, 2024 · The Congressional YIMBY Caucus will explore and promote legislation that will lead to the construction of diverse housing types, ensure equitable access to ...
[149]
Young Reintroduces Yes In My Backyard Act to Encourage ...
May 13, 2021 · The YIMBY Act will empower communities across the country to clear the path for housing that is more affordable, equitable, and sustainable.
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House Committee Passes Roundtable-Supported Yes in My ...
The House Financial Services Committee passed the bipartisan Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) Act, which would help eliminate discriminatory land use policies.<|separator|>
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Federal Lawmakers Launch YIMBY Caucus
Dec 21, 2024 · The YIMBY Act would help to eliminate barriers to development by requiring Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) recipients to report ...
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How do other cities provide housing? - California YIMBY
Aug 27, 2020 · Tokyo enforces national zoning rules and provides cheap mortgages for plentiful housing that rapidly depreciates rather than building value as ...
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Japan's Housing Crisis: What The YIMBYs Don't Understand
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Beyond entrepreneurialism: revealing multiple logics of suburban ...
Feb 15, 2024 · The paper develops existing work on global suburbanisms to identify the multiple logics and variable practices of housing policy and delivery that exist within ...
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YIMBY Action
We're a network of people who advocate for abundant, affordable housing and inclusive, sustainable communities across the United States.
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Are YIMBYS a Movement? - Beyond Chron
Aug 11, 2025 · Opponents claim the generational drive to increase housing supply is not a movement but a billionaire-driven scheme to gentrify neighborhoods.
[158]
Guide to the National YIMBY Movement: Base-Building Organizations
Apr 24, 2025 · I'll cover three organizations using different tactics to support YIMBYism across the country: Welcoming Neighbors Network, YIMBY Action, and Strong Towns.
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YIMBYtown 2025 Puts National Momentum for More Housing on Full ...
Sep 27, 2025 · This month, housing advocates from across the country made the trek to New Haven, Connecticut for the sixth-ever YIMBYtown conference.
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California SB-9 - YIMBY Law
In October 2021, California governor Gavin Newsom signed SB-9 into law, which effectively eliminated single family zoning across the state.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs SB 79, Unlocking Higher ...
Oct 10, 2025 · Signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 10, 2025, Senate Bill (SB) 79 overrides local zoning limitations to allow greater ...
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Minneapolis 2040: The most wonderful plan of the year
Dec 12, 2018 · YIMBYs around the country have been following the pitched battle over the plan's most revolutionary feature: whether to allow small apartment ...
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Housing lessons from Minneapolis - A City That Works - Substack
Oct 14, 2025 · A 2021 study from Iowa State found that the Minneapolis 2040 Plan actually increased home prices by 3%-5% in the city. In contrast, an ...<|separator|>
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Framing Futures: Pro-Housing Legislation Goes Vertical in 2025
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What YIMBYs are learning from their victories across the country
Feb 19, 2025 · Breakthrough housing reforms in NYC and Austin offer a playbook for YIMBY success across America.
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YIMBY group: Here's why California's housing laws aren't working
Feb 24, 2025 · Recent California laws were supposed to supercharge housing construction. According to YIMBY Law, they haven't even come close.
[167]
YIMBY Alliance: Home
YIMBY stands for 'Yes in my back yard', supporting more high-quality homes near us, believing everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to live.
[168]
'The moment has come': pro-building Labour yimbys are set to raise ...
Sep 15, 2024 · It is a campaign for more housebuilding, more turbines, more infrastructure, even on once-sacred spaces such as the green belt.
[169]
Who are the YIMBYs? - Centre for London
May 31, 2024 · They encompass a majority of Londoners, but are particularly strong among millennials and those intending to vote Labour or Liberal Democrat.<|separator|>
[170]
Where Is the German YIMBY Movement? - Dominik Hermle
Sep 1, 2024 · It's no coincidence that the only YIMBY chapters in continental Europe are found in Sweden and the Netherlands who are known for their ...
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Where are Europe's YIMBYs? - by Pieter Garicano - Silicon Continent
Apr 23, 2025 · Where are Europe's YIMBYs? · Last week, the Dutch government announced two years nationwide rent freeze for 'affordable housing'. · The pro- ...Missing: movement | Show results with:movement
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I Voted, but There's no YIMBY Politics in Germany
Sep 26, 2021 · YIMBY is not exactly a movement about more development. It's specifically about development in the most in-demand urban areas, through infill.
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Will the YIMBY Movement Impact Ireland - Public Consultation
YIMBY is being driven primarily by the younger generation who have been locked out of affordable housing and who face huge hurdles in owning their own homes.
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YIMBY Melbourne – For Housing Abundance
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The fight over your backyard: Why NIMBY has become a 'dirty word'
Jul 12, 2025 · The Yes In My Backyard movement is lobbying for denser cities and more housing in places people want to work and live and YIMBYs want these homes built ...
[176]
YIMBY wins around the world
Jul 26, 2024 · Toronto, Canada's largest city, allowed fourplexes by right in 2023, with some controversy, but other rules, like a cap on the ratio of ...
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From NIMBY to YIMBY: How localized real estate investment trusts ...
Jul 10, 2024 · From NIMBY to YIMBY: How localized real estate investment trusts can help address Canada's housing crisis. Published: July 10, 2024 5:50pm EDT.
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New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn ...
Mar 21, 2024 · In total, New Zealand permitted 9.7 new housing units per 1000 residents in 2022, a 45-year-high that was nearly double the rates seen in the US ...
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Auckland - One Final Effort
The ultimate outcome: since 2016, Auckland's house prices have risen by roughly 20%, a stark contrast to the 65% increase seen in the rest of the country. This ...
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Is SB 9 Working? Here's What Early Data Reveals - California YIMBY
Feb 22, 2023 · The goal of SB 9 was to legalize duplexes and fourplexes in residential areas, clearing a path for the development of more “missing middle” housing.
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YIMBY cities show how to build homes and contain rents
Jul 17, 2024 · As case studies for the effectiveness of YIMBY reforms, both Austin and Auckland show signs of success. Yet they also show that changes are ...Missing: US | Show results with:US
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[PDF] From NIMBY to YIMBY: How to win votes by building more homes
We have therefore examined the data on housing delivery, empty homes, property taxation and public sector housing for different, predominantly, European ...
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New Zealand's bipartisan housing reforms offer a model to other ...
Jan 24, 2022 · New Zealand's reforms have increased housing construction, but home prices are still high. New Zealand's three zoning reform policies enacted ...
[184]
[PDF] The Impact of Upzoning on Housing Construction in Auckland
These policy reforms are underpinned by the argument that LURs increase house prices by re- stricting housing supply (Thorson, 1997; Mayer and Somerville, 2000; ...<|separator|>
[185]
Less Crowded Houses. NZ's housing policy success and ...
Feb 11, 2025 · This paper argues that Australia can learn from New Zealand's experience: enabling more housing can quickly lead to more supply and improved affordability.
[186]
Tice: Has Minneapolis' 2040 Plan made housing more affordable?
Aug 15, 2025 · The researchers conclude that the Minneapolis zoning reform produced “a pronounced decrease in home and rental prices.” To be precise, home ...
[187]
YIGBY: Unlocking Church-Owned Land for Affordable Housing
Feb 28, 2025 · Housing advocates say that it's a matter of political will and moral imperative to see houses of worship assuming such a role, and both are ...
[188]
Affordable Housing: YIGBY (“Yes in God's Backyard”) Movement ...
Feb 20, 2024 · Housing advocates view underused faith properties as natural sites to develop projects that help close the great national gap on affordable housing.
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YIGBY Housing for Low Income, Utilizing Faith Based Land
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Churching NIMBYs: Creating Affordable Housing on Church Property
Feb 4, 2024 · Faith communities across the United States have begun to create affordable housing on church property, inspired by sincerely held religious beliefs.
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Yes in God's Backyard: How Church Land Is Powering Housing
Jul 30, 2025 · Yes in God's Backyard: More Than 800,000 Homes Could Be Built on Land Owned by Churches—Here's How Some Are Breaking Ground on Affordable ...
[192]
Churches want to build affordable housing. Why are cities stopping ...
Sep 26, 2025 · The state's YIGBY bill passed the House but failed in the Senate, with a trade group representing town and city governments arguing that ...
[193]
YIGBY Housing – Low Income Housing for Vulnerable Populations
Cross-sector professionals addressing the housing crisis by activating under-utilized faith community properties suitable for low income housing.About YIGBY · YIGBY Supporters · Faith Community Partners · News
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YIGBY - LEAP Housing
YIGBY (Yes in God's Backyard). a creative approach to affordable housing, in partnership with Idaho's faith communities. Tap to unmute. Your browser can't play ...
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S.3910 - Yes in God's Backyard Act 118th Congress (2023-2024)
Mar 12, 2024 · This Act may be cited as the “Yes in God's Backyard Act”. SEC. 2. Technical assistance and grants for faith-based organizations, institutions of ...
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S.2720 - Yes in God's Backyard Act 119th Congress (2025-2026)
Summary of S.2720 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Yes in God's Backyard Act. ... Senate - 09/04/2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, ...<|separator|>
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“Yes, in God's Backyard”, A New Tool for Affordable Housing
Aug 6, 2025 · This “Yes-in-God's-Backyard” (YIGBY) policy was added to the existing “House Bill 1339” tool for affordable housing that has been around since ...
[198]
'Yes in God's Backyard' bill is now a law in Florida - YouTube
Jul 2, 2025 · The law puts faith in religious groups to help address the affordable housing crisis ... 'Yes in God's Backyard' bill is now a law in Florida.
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The Nuts & Bolts Of New York's Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act
Apr 6, 2025 · The Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act will require municipalities to allow the construction of residential buildings on all parcels of land owned solely, ...
[200]
Yes in God's backyard? Churches push to skirt zoning laws and ...
Apr 23, 2025 · Leaders of faith-based institutions are backing a bill that would give them a pass from local regulations that make it hard to build.
[201]
Columbus City Council is spearheading the “Yes in God's Backyard ...
Sep 25, 2025 · Columbus City Council is spearheading the “Yes in God's Backyard" initiative to remove regulatory obstacles that churches and faith ...Federal 'Yes In God's Backyard' bill could help Va. faith-based ...Yes in God's backyard? This housing solution may be the answer to ...More results from www.reddit.com
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The "Yes In God's Backyard" Movement and the Preservation of ...
May 23, 2025 · “Affordable Housing: YIGBY (“Yes in God's Backyard”) Movement Seeks to Counter NIMBY Movement,” Urban Land, February 20, 2024, https ...
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Supporting Innovative Approaches to Expand Accessible Housing
Aug 23, 2024 · As part of a broader effort to support innovative approaches to increasing housing availability and affordability, Lutheran Services in ...<|separator|>
[204]
YIGBY Movement Creates Innovative Housing Shortage Response
Apr 16, 2025 · This is done by streamlining the permitting process and providing relief from restrictive zoning laws and other exclusionary land use policies ...
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Saving Church from State: how YIGBY can help faith communities ...
Apr 15, 2025 · These laws allow faith-based organizations to build affordable housing on their land without needing rezoning or facing restrictive local regulations.Missing: advocacy | Show results with:advocacy
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YIMBY? Smart Growth? New Urbanism? Understand the various ...
Dec 2, 2019 · YIMBY focuses primarily on the pure need to build more housing, especially in high-demand metro areas. Some YIMBYs have been less focused on ...
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When New Urbanists and YIMBY's fight - Build the Next Right Thing
Nov 1, 2023 · YIMBY's and New Urbanists do seem to have so much in common. Both have a trenchant critique of modern planning and development. Both are in favor of building ...
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SB 79 - California YIMBY
Transit-Oriented Development & Upzoning. SB 79 will make it faster and easier to build multi-family housing near transit stops, like train and rapid bus ...
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Transit-oriented development is not enough : r/yimby - Reddit
Sep 23, 2023 · TOD just squeezes the poors into little slivers of land in cities. Seattle has this, we call them "urban villages". While they're not TOD ...AKA proposing "development-oriented transit" : r/yimby - RedditAre YIMBYism and Urban Planning 2 concepts that are in opposition ...More results from www.reddit.com