It’s YIMBY’s time to shine.
Housing advocates have long pushed for so-called housing abundance at the local level. Now they finally have a presidential ticket that explicitly echoes their agenda.
These activists and their diverse coalition — who call themselves YIMBYs, which stands for “yes in my backyard” — have rallied in support of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. On Wednesday night, they hosted a two-hour “YIMBYs for Harris” virtual fundraiser featuring dozens of local, state and federal lawmakers who believe in building more housing.
Housing advocates say Harris’ proposal to build 3 million homes in her first term, in part by cutting government regulations that limit construction, feels like a sea change in addressing the nation’s housing shortage. It doesn’t hurt that Harris picked a governor who championed pro-housing policies while serving as her running mate.
Harris and other top Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, highlighted the housing shortage in their speeches at the Democratic National Convention — much to the YIMBYs’ delight. Democrats in Washington have long supported demand-side housing policies, including subsidies for low-income homebuyers and renters. But the recent national message on the issue has focused more on solving the supply shortage, which is particularly acute in blue states and cities where onerous permitting requirements, environmental reviews and opposition from so-called NIMBYs — “not in my backyard” — have hampered efforts to build more homes.
“There are always Democrats who say we have to fund more affordable housing,” Armand Domalewski, a San Francisco-based data analyst who helped organize YIMBYs for Harris, told Business Insider. What’s new on the national stage, he added, is “the perspective that part of the problem is that state and local governments are blocking housing.”
Shortly after Domalewski created a WhatsApp group for pro-housing voters about three weeks ago, “it just blew up,” he said. About 300 people are in the chat, he said, and the group estimates about 6,000 people attended Wednesday’s virtual fundraiser, which raised more than $100,000.
Sen. Brian Schatz, who headlined the fundraiser, argued that his party is experiencing a “generational shift” in its approach to housing. He called Harris “the first presidential candidate in at least a generation who cares about housing.” Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado also described Harris at the event as “the most pro-housing president in the history of the United States.”
“We want someone who is really working to solve the housing shortage,” Schatz said. “And the simplest way to solve the housing shortage is to allow people to build as much housing as possible, especially for working people.”
Representative Robert Garcia, a 46-year-old California Democrat who is one of the most outspoken urbanist voices in Congress, noted in remarks during the fundraiser that he is organizing the first YIMBY congressional caucus.
The fact that housing policy is at the top of the Democrats’ national priority list shows how severe the affordability crisis has become. Harris, Obama, and other top Democrats aren’t necessarily YIMBYs — they’re talking about the housing shortage because Americans are more concerned about it. recent survey83% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans said they consider the lack of affordable housing a significant problem.
Former President Donald Trump has not spoken much about housing during the campaign, though he and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, have argued they could address the shortage by deporting millions of immigrants.
Several speakers at the YIMBY fundraiser argued that, despite being the anti-regulation party, Republicans have embraced red tape that limits what can be built and where. In the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda, Ben Carson, who was Trump’s secretary of housing and urban development, wrote that Republicans should “oppose any effort to weaken single-family home zoning.”