It’s not enough to merely build subsidized affordable housing — housing location matters at least as much as availability; in addition to secure, affordable shelter, humans need access to quality transit, walkable neighborhoods, minimal exposure to health and environmental risks,…
Los Angeles Leads the Way on AB 2097 Implementation
By M. Nolan Gray Over the holiday break, while many of us were nestled up by the fire reading The High Cost of Free Parking, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning (DCP) circulated an interdepartmental memo explaining how certain…
Ending Criminalization of Homelessness
By Ned Resnikoff In the Tuesday press conference where Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his proposal for the 2023-24 state budget, he touched on a key theme addressed in California YIMBY’s report on California’s homelessness crisis (of which I am the…
California YIMBY Statement on Governor’s Proposed Budget
Budget Strengthens Commitment to State Housing Law, Funding Homeless Services “The Governor’s priorities align with ending the housing shortage – but there’s work to do” SACRAMENTO – Today, California YIMBY released the following statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s…
Time is Money, and Money is Housing: Approvals Done (By)-Right
The results are in: The City of Los Angeles’ Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) program of permitting new housing “by-right” has helped build more below-market rate affordable housing, faster, than housing proposals in the city that are still subject to discretionary…
Where’s the Missing Middle? Quadrupling Down on Duplexes
A new policy brief from Garcia et al (2022) at UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation explores “Unlocking the Potential for Missing Middle Housing.” This qualitative study identifies important barriers to building more affordable, smaller-scale, multifamily housing for middle-income…
Yes, Ontario Actually Has A Housing Shortage
Back in October, former UC Berkeley professor Karen Chapple and researcher Cherise Burda published an article in The Toronto Star questioning whether additional housing production would ease the acute housing affordability crisis. Even stranger, the article questioned whether the province…
Large Lots, Segregated Cities
A new Job Market Paper by Tianfang Cui at the University of Pennsylvania studies the impact of exclusionary zoning through one specific and under-examined variable: minimum lot sizes. Key takeaways: “From 1940–1970, the rise in central city Black composition in…
When 1 + 1 = Zero: How NIMBYism Fosters Housing Skepticism
While research has shown that new homebuilding can bring an immediate benefit to local housing affordability, a new survey study by University of California scholars Clayton Nall, Chris Elmendorf, and California YIMBY alumni Stan Oklobdzija finds that people tend to…
Press Conference: Launch of California YIMBY’s Homelessness Report
Watch our press conference from December 6, 2022 about our new report, “Housing Abundance as a Condition for Ending Homelessness: Lessons from Houston, Texas.” Featured are California YIMBY Policy Director and report author Ned Resnikoff, and Communications Director Matthew Lewis.…