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A federal "YES In My Backyard" (YIMBY) approach when awarding grants to states and municipalities is needed to counter local “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) policies that drive up costs and create barriers to the development of affordable housing. A YIMBY approach is also needed to counter burdensome and duplicative federal government reviews that are necessary to obtain real estate development and transportation permits.
The Roundtable and a coalition of 285 housing, business, and municipal organizations strongly support the bipartisan, bicameral Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) Act, that will ease burdensome rules inhibiting affordable housing development.
We also support a “one federal decision” framework for environmental projects that consolidate federal-level permitting into a more manageable, efficient process. National policymakers can help overcome these impediments by taking a YIMBY approach when awarding federal-level incentives.
Grants from federal agencies to states and municipalities should be conditioned on the localities’ commitments to high-density zoning, expanding by-right multifamily zones, and other techniques that create an atmosphere for approval of transit-oriented smart growth and affordable housing.
Local land-use rules and community opposition are major obstacles that block high-density zoning designations needed to develop affordable housing and transit-oriented projects. Grants from federal agencies (like the Transportation and Housing Departments) to states and municipalities should be conditioned on the localities’ commitments on taking a YIMBY approach to high density zoning, expanding by-right multifamily zones, and other techniques that create an atmosphere for approval of affordable housing projects and transit-oriented smart growth.
The YIMBY Act requires localities receive certain federal HUD grants to submit a public report on whether they have local policies in place that remove exclusionary zoning tactics. Encouraging high-density development is “an essential first step in decreasing barriers to new housing of all price levels,” according to a supportive YIMBY Act coalition letter endorsed by The Roundtable.
Previously, the YIMBY Act passed the House without opposition in 2020 but stalled in the Senate.
For more information and recent updates, reference our resources below.
