💼 Flimsy NIMBYs
briefcase | invest smarter | Issue #135
📉 Have Lots: The NIMBY Downfall
Not-in-my-backyard. NIMBYs are nothing more than the house-privileged obstructing the house-deprived.
NIMBYs are the real estate equivalent of listening to a customer service rep reading you terms and conditions. Or HBO releasing only one episode at a time. Or people who stop in doorways. Or humble braggers. Or a baby with a kazoo. Or Canada. Or people’s needs. Or lame jokes that never end.
So annoying right?
At the very least, NIMBY is probably our favorite acronym. That, and the close NIMBY relative BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything).
Right. We can't scream about rising housing and rent prices on one hand and then decry any attempt to add supply to the market.
It's like calling to defund the police and then complaining about your town becoming more 🔪 stabby. It's stupid.
The truth is NIMBYism is one of the biggest threats to affordable housing and improving supply. Opposition to sensible development makes building harder, longer, and more expensive.
The unfortunate reality is that typically wealthier white people form the core of the NIMBY movement. One recent study states:
We find that NIMBYism continues to dominate the dialog at public hearings on development proposals. Planning meetings appear to be dominated by older, white, and financially stable residents, and this is a major (though not sole) barrier to the city’s social mix.
And, ironically, some of the most progressive cities in North America are also the ones that have the most aggressive forms of NIMBYism. Yes, we’re talking about you, San Francisco.
Before we begin, let’s get inside the mind of NIMBY. Here’s how it goes…
Got it? Fortunately, these modern-day village idiots have faced a few setbacks this year, and we want to celebrate those.
NIMBYs Exacerbating Wildfire Damage
Great, now NIMBYs are starting real-world fires, hope y’all got insurance. And, if you didn’t see our awesome piece on the great insurance exodus, we’ve got you covered.
See what we did there?
TLDR: Insurers are leaving states prone to natural disasters because they can’t take on that much risk anymore.
So what does this have to do with NIMBYs? The long-standing resistance to denser housing has pushed new development into the flammable fringes of cities known as the "wildland-urban interface."
This persistent opposition from local communities has resulted in the expansion of urban areas towards the outskirts, where the risk of wildfires and other natural disasters is significantly higher.
Like Golf, NIMBY Attendance Is Down
According to a new Zillow survey, most adults (82%) supported at least one multifamily option in their neighborhood. Further, a whopping 70% of all respondents believe that adding duplexes and triplexes would save the day regarding housing affordability.
ADUs found the most support with 84% of respondents welcoming this kind of development in their areas. Yea, cuz they’re ADUseful!
And, 75% are all for building even bigger housing options. We're talking about small to medium-sized apartment buildings, built close to transit, parks, and recreation. Wow, sounds sensible no?
Allowing ADUs, duplexes and triplexes in zones previously limited to single-family houses is often referred to as "modest densification," creating "missing middle" housing types that fall between single-family homes and large multifamily apartment buildings. Relaxing zoning rules to allow more housing supply is the best way to address the nation's ongoing housing affordability crisis.
Growing Academic Consensus
Study after study continues to show that building more decreases rents and housing prices, and improves housing accessibility.
One of the more cited studies shows that for “every 10% increase in the housing stock, rents decrease 1% and sales prices also decrease within 500 feet.” Another study finds the same: “rents and displacement fall differentially near new market rate projects, while gentrification increases.”
Look at the correlation between how much construction occurs in a metro, and the downward pressure on rents.
In the academic equivalent of a mic-drop moment, PEW concludes that:
In these jurisdictions, policymakers expressed a goal of improving affordability and enabled more housing as a mechanism for achieving it. They have succeeded in keeping rent growth low even while rents have soared in the U.S. overall and in nearby cities and towns. That has helped local tenants save thousands of dollars per year in rent relative to growing places that have placed greater restrictions on new housing.
🎤 DJ Khaled Voice - "Another One"
City after city is wising up to the reality that building more is the silver bullet to solving our housing crisis. And, cities know that the more housing they allow, the larger their tax coffers become. It’s a win-win.
Exclusionary zoning is a harmful practice that all research agrees on. However, until recently, there was a strong political consensus that nothing could be done about it.
That changed in 2018 when Minneapolis became the first major city to eliminate zoning laws that exclude multifamily housing. Since then, other places like Oregon, California, Arkansas, Utah, Montana, Vermont, and cities like Charlotte and Portland have made similar changes. The goal is not to build tall apartment buildings in quiet neighborhoods but to legalize smaller housing options like duplexes, triplexes, and granny flats.
Don’t worry, we’ll be dentle densification.
Vermont is now a YIMBY (Yes, In My Backyard) state, as Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill allowing duplexes to be built anywhere. Triplexes and fourplexes are also allowed in areas with water and sewer services. This bill had bipartisan support and was passed with overwhelming votes in the state House and Senate.
Who Likes Video Games?
🤭 Can’t make this stuff up.
Sim Nimby is a new video game aimed at raising awareness about the impact of NIMBYism on our cities. Imagine a simpler version of the old "SimCity" video game from the late 1980s.
It has a basic digital map with a few pixelated houses. When you try to click on the screen to start building homes, business areas, and parks, you'll hear a loud sound and see a message saying "ERROR. CAN'T BUILD IN NIMBYVILLE."
And it’s a real game. But, good luck getting anything built in Sim Nimby (you'll need it).
Fuhgeddaboudit NIMBYs
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is a YIMBY who recently indicated that her administration “would target communities and zoning policies that block housing and perpetuate segregation.”
“The jobs are here. But the housing is not,” the Governor is quoted as saying.
A few weeks ago, Gov Hochul introduced a series of executive actions to promote residential real estate development and ease zoning restrictions in the state.
And this should be applauded given New York’s reputation as one of the most restrictive places to build and be a landlord in the U.S.
So What? By prioritizing abundant housing for all and being open to various methods and alliances, YIMBYism overtakes NIMBYism. Unlike the rigid NIMBY fortress, the YIMBY movement persistently seeks out weaknesses in our draconian zoning and planning regimes, like ocean waves eroding a stone fortress. Eventually, the decades-long frozen regulatory regime of our cities will collapse.
So get out of your gated HOA communities and support abundant, quality housing. Yes, that's a great slogan...quality in my backyard (QUIMBY).
