Susan Gittelman

Between the national marches and the local rallies, these are political times. Of lesser notice is the emergence of an important grassroots movement designed to challenge a major obstacle to building more housing.

Most are familiar with NIMBY, the “not-in-my-backyard” activist movement – proverbially opposing new housing development. But now the just-say-no groups are meeting some opposition of their own. The pro-growth, “yes-in-my-backyard” forces have arrived. Yes, the YIMBYs.

One of the first to organize was A Better Cambridge (ABC), a citizens group formed in 2012 to take a stand against an antidevelopment movement to reduce density in that city. In response to a local downzoning petition, ABC argued that further restricting housing supply did nothing to address a chronic shortage and high pricing of housing. They won and decided to continue the fight.

The need for more housing density is felt nationally, as urban areas become magnets for Millennials, for downsizing and less-mobile Baby Boomers, and for companies that want to be located where workers want to live. San Francisco has an outspoken and provocatively named group – Bay Area Renters’ Federation – and there are movements as well in Seattle, Austin and Los Angeles.

Locally, pro-development groups have been springing up in West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Newton, Andover and other communities in recognition of the need for more housing and more density.

A convention in Boulder last summer gathered the YIMBY-minded from across the country. Jesse Kanson-Benanav, a founder of A Better Cambridge who also works to develop affordable housing, said his organization was one of three there from Massachusetts. “We’re pro-housing advocates,” Kanson-Benanav said. “We need to build more housing across the income spectrum.”

Creating Vibrant Communities

When it comes time to actually locate a development, local opponents – sometimes afraid of congestion or a perceived negative effect on home prices, or just against having other people move in – have been effective in stalling or shrinking plans for new housing.

“We’re seeing that there’s definitely a reaction against NIMBYism in the Boston area,” said Andre Leroux, executive director of the Smart Growth Alliance, a coalition of housing, environment and planning groups. “Most people want to see more development that’s going to create walkable places, active streetscapes and vibrant communities.”

The key to effective pro-housing groups’ efforts is local engagement, and these activists, motivated to solve the housing shortage, are willing to stand up among their neighbors and be counted.
In many communities those who are in favor of housing just need to know that others agree with them and will show up, and that public meetings are set up to ensure a balanced and civil discussion.

This type of civic engagement needs to be supported by all of us in the housing community. As one example, the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance, through its Great Neighborhoods campaign, is working to connect local activists to each other across the region through social media and web tools.

A 2015 study by the George Washington University School of Business found that “Metropolitan Boston is leading the country toward a walkable urban future.” But the study also determined that new development is taking place on less than 6 percent of the metro area’s land – the same places that already house more than 40 percent of its population. Clearly, there’s room to grow.

YIMBYs tend to have a positive, long-term view, and they’re speaking up. This movement is particularly attractive to Millennials, partly because of its broad range of interests. In every community there are issue-oriented groups with different priorities: affordable housing, climate change, open space, bikes, smart growth. Denser, mixed-use communities, which cut down on commuting, check a lot of those boxes. Together these groups present a positive vision and a case for development that the public can support.

We are reminded in these political times of the importance of speaking up, of building coalitions and promoting a balanced public dialogue about the future of our neighborhoods and our cities. This is at the core of the YIMBY movement, which is a smart, energetic and inspiring reflection of the newest generation of civic activism. 

Susan Gittelman is the executive director of B’nai B’rith Housing, a nonprofit, affordable housing developer currently working in Boston, Sudbury and Swampscott.