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The YIMBY movement (short for "yes in my back yard") is a pro-infrastructure development movement mostly focusing on public housing policy, real estate development, public transportation, and pedestrian safety in transportation planning, in contrast and in opposition to the NIMBY ("not in my back yard") movement that generally opposes most forms of urban development in order to maintain the status quo. [1] [2] [3] As a popular organized movement in the United States, it began in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 2010s amid a major housing affordability crisis and has subsequently become a potent political force in state and local politics across the United States. [4] [5]
The YIMBY position supports increasing the supply of housing within cities where housing costs have escalated to unaffordable levels. [6] They have also supported infrastructure development projects like improving housing development [7] (especially for affordable housing [8] or trailer parks [9] ), high-speed rail lines, [10] [3] homeless shelters, [11] day cares, [12] schools, universities and colleges, [13] [14] bike lanes, and transportation planning that promotes pedestrian safety infrastructure. [2] YIMBYs often seek rezoning that would allow denser housing to be produced or the repurposing of obsolete buildings, such as shopping malls, into housing. [15] [16] [17] Some YIMBYs have also supported public-interest projects like clean energy or alternative transport. [18] [19] [20] [21]
The YIMBY movement has supporters across the political spectrum, including left-leaning adherents who believe housing production is a social justice issue, free-market libertarian proponents who think the supply of housing should not be regulated by the government, and environmentalists who believe land use reform will slow down exurban development into natural areas. [22] YIMBYs argue cities can be made increasingly affordable and accessible by building more infill housing, [23] [24] [25] : 1 and that greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by denser cities. [26]
A 1993 essay published in the Journal of the American Planning Association entitled "Planners' Alchemy, Transforming NIMBY to YIMBY: Rethinking NIMBY" used 'YIMBY' in general reference to development, not only housing development. [27]
The pro-housing YIMBY position emerged in regions experiencing unaffordable housing prices. The Guardian and Raidió Teilifís Éireann say this movement began in the San Francisco Bay area in the 2010s due to high housing costs created as a result of the local technology industry adding many more jobs to the region than the number of housing units constructed in the same time span. [28] [29]
The debate over YIMBY policies does not follow the usual political lines with YIMBYs activists often aligning from all over the political spectrum. [30] However, surveys of both the mass public and of elected officials show that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to support dense, multifamily housing. [31] A 2024 study of mayors and city councils shows that "electing a Democrat as mayor leads to increased multifamily housing production. These effects are concentrated in cities where councils have less power over land use changes." [31]
A major part of the political coalition aligned with the movement include environmentalists and proponents of sustainability, which support measures to deregulate zoning for a variety of reasons. Urban development with higher density levels and fewer restrictions on land use reduces the population’s need to travel by automobile, and thus, cities’ need to develop car-based infrastructure, which in the United States accounts for 29% of all greenhouse gas emissions. [32]
Furthermore, higher urban density reduces the total area of land occupied by housing developments. This opens up land to be used either for natural conservation or for low-intrusion clean energy developments such as wind or solar farms, both of which are goals of the broader environmental movement that can be achieved through land use deregulation.
Conversely, because "NIMBY" is often used as a pejorative, [33] self-identified NIMBYs are rare, but opposition to YIMBY policies comes from some progressives, [34] [35] right-wing figures like Donald Trump [36] and Tucker Carlson, [37] historical preservationists, local power brokers, [38] homeowners concerned about their property values, [39] and renter advocates concerned about resident displacement and gentrification who disagree with the view among progressive housing economists that displacement is caused by lack of enough housing. [40] [41] In local elections, opposition to YIMBY policies is particularly pronounced; studies show that voter turnout among landowners nearly doubles when zoning issues are on the ballot. [42]
Evidence from California suggests that support for development is often higher when the development is less local. For example, a statewide upzoning bill will have more popular support statewide than a new apartment building will have from the immediate neighbors. [43] This can vary by state. While the national Sierra Club is in favor of infill development, local Sierra Club chapters in California oppose making development easier in their own cities. [44] A 2019 poll conducted by Lake Reach Partners for California YIMBY found that support for more infill development is higher among renters, Democrats, and Black people, though it enjoys majority support among all groups in California. [45]
Opposition to market-rate housing has been referred to as "PHIMBY", [46] for "public housing in my backyard". Similarly, requiring a very high inclusionary (i.e., subsidized) percentage for new construction can result in less housing development, as subsidized homes are often more expensive to build than market-rate ones. [47]
The origins of the modern YIMBY movement are separate from existing tenants' rights groups, [48] which are suspicious of their association with young, white technology workers [49] and may be wary of disrupting the status quo, which allows incumbent groups to use discretionary planning processes to negotiate for benefits while slowing development in general. [38] [50] Some have raised concerns about high vacancy rates, citing high vacancy rates even in high-demand cities as a sign that increasing market-rate housing will not improve affordability. [51] There are also concerns that new housing in an expensive city draws more migration than it houses, and will actually worsen the housing crisis via induced demand. [52] [53] These beliefs are considered by economists to be a form of "supply skepticism".
Academic research has yielded some generalizable results on the effects of upzoning, the root causes of unaffordability, and the most efficacious policy prescriptions to help low-income workers in prosperous cities.
Studies show that strict land use regulations reduce housing supply and raise the price of houses and land. [54] [55] [56] [57]
Research into the granular effects of additional housing supply show that new housing units in hot markets do not increase nearby rents: the effect of moving chains on demand pressure is greater than the amenity effect. This has been observed in New York City, [58] in San Francisco, [59] in Helsinki, [60] and across multiple cities. [61] Additionally, in California, new market-rate housing reduced displacement and slowed rises in rent. [62]
Upzoning (rezoning for more housing) in the absence of additional housing production appeared to raise prices in Chicago, [63] though the author disputed that this could lead to general conclusions about the affordability effects of upzoning. [64]
In Auckland, New Zealand, the introduction of upzoning led to a stimulation of the housing construction industry and an increase in the city’s supply of housing. [65]
In Portland, Oregon, an analysis of 17 years of land use deregulation policies found that individual land parcels in upzoned areas had significantly higher probabilities of development, density creation, and net additions to the Portland housing supply. [66]
Another study published in Urban Studies in 2006 observed price trends within Canadian cities and noted very slow price drops for older housing over a period of decades; the author concluded that newly constructed housing would not become affordable in the near future, meaning that filtering was not a viable method for producing affordable housing, especially in the most expensive cities. [67]
A more recent study on the subject of housing elasticity found an opposite conclusion; while newly constructed housing was often purchased at higher prices, the increase in supply at the high end of the market drove down prices everywhere else, leading to material benefits for people across all income groups. [68]
The change in rent is inversely proportional to vacancy rates in a city, which are related to the demand for housing and the rate of construction. [69] Homelessness rates are correlated with higher rents, especially in areas where rent exceeds 30% of an area's median income. [70] [71] Homelessness is driven by a number of causes, but it is more difficult to address homelessness in areas that suffer from a shortage of housing. [72]
A 2023 survey of homeless individuals in California found that among typical causes of homelessness, many people were driven into homelessness due to high rents and low incomes which could not cover the cost of rent. [73] YIMBY proponents would seek to lower rents by expanding the supply of housing. California's high housing prices are directly tied to a lack of housing supply. [74]
Research shows that strict land use regulations contribute to racial housing segregation in the United States. [75] [76] Surveys have shown that white communities are more likely to have strict land use regulations and whites are more likely to support those regulations. [75] Improved price elasticity of new housing supply reduces the typical increases of local rents and house prices due to immigration. [77] Immigration affects demand and supply of housing. [77]
Proponents of the YIMBY movement argue that eliminating restrictions on land use, in particular the common zoning regulations that only allow certain land to be developed as single-family homes, would increase economic growth.
A 2019 study by Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti in the American Economic Journal found that liberalization of land use regulations would lead to enormous productivity gains. The study estimated that strict land use regulations "lowered aggregate US growth by 36 percent from 1964 to 2009." [78] [79] [80]
Similarly, a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic research also estimated that deregulating land use in the United States would lead to productivity gains, with domestic output projected to increase between 3-6% and economic well-being lifted by 3-9%. [81]
In Toronto, a self-styled YIMBY movement was established in 2006 by community members in response to significant development proposals in the West Queen West area, and a YIMBY festival, launched the same year, has been held annually since. [82] [83] The festival's organizer stated that "YIMBYism is a community mindset that's open to change and development." [83] An advocacy group called HousingNowTO fights to maximize the number of homes when the government builds housing. [84] [85] Another group, More Neighbours Toronto (MNTO), advocates for policy changes to increase the housing supply. [86]
In Vancouver, Abundant Housing Vancouver was formed in 2016 to support more housing. [87] [88] In Ottawa, Make Housing Affordable was formed in 2021 to advocate for YIMBY policies.
In 2014, the blog YIMBY Bratislava was created as a response to rising aversion to development in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The blog informs about development in the city, promotes it, but also criticizes it. In 2018 it was renamed to YIM.BA — Yes In My Bratislava. [89] It is a private blog of one author with the fan group of its readers and fans on Facebook.
In 2012, the YIMBY platform RTM XL in Rotterdam was created as a response to rising aversion to the development of the Zalmhaven tower in Rotterdam. RTM XL informs about development in the city, promotes it, but also criticizes policies of the city on development and mobility. In recent years similar platforms EHVXL in Eindhoven, DHXL in The Hague and UTRXL in Utrecht were founded.
Yimby is an independent political party network founded in Stockholm in 2007, which advocates physical development, densification and promotion of urban environment with chapters in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Uppsala. [90] [ citation needed ] The group believes that the PBL (Plans and Constructions Act, from 1987) is a major impediment to any new construction, and should be eliminated or dramatically reformed. [91]
London YIMBY was set up in 2016, publishing its first report with the Adam Smith Institute in 2017 [92] which received national press coverage. [93] Its members advocate a policy termed 'Better Streets'. This proposal would allow residents of individual streets to vote by a two-thirds majority to pick a design code and allow extensions or replacement buildings of up to five or six stories, allowing suburban homes to be gradually replaced by mansion blocks. This flagship policy has achieved a degree of recognition, being endorsed by former Liberal Democrat MP Sam Gyimah [94] and the, former, leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg. [95]
Other YIMBY groups have been set up in individual London boroughs and in cities suffering similar housing shortages, such as Brighton, Bristol and Edinburgh.
Members of the British YIMBY movement have been critical of established planning organisations such as the Town and Country Planning Association and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, accusing them of pursuing policies that worsen Britain's housing shortage. [96] [97]
The YIMBY movement has been particularly strong in California, a state experiencing a substantial housing shortage crisis. [98] Since 2017, YIMBY groups in California have pressured California state and its localities to pass laws to expedite housing construction, follow their own zoning laws, and reduce the stringency of zoning regulations. [98] YIMBY activists have also been active in helping to enforce state law on housing by bringing law-breaking cities to the attention of authorities. [99]
Since 2014, in response to California's housing affordability crisis, several YIMBY groups were created in the San Francisco Bay Area. [100] [101] These groups have lobbied both locally and at the state level for increased housing production at all price levels, as well as using California's Housing Accountability Act (the "anti-NIMBY law") [100] : 1 [101] : 1 to sue cities when they attempt to block or downsize housing development. [100] The New York Times explained about one organization: "Members want San Francisco and its suburbs to build more of every kind of housing. More subsidized affordable housing, more market-rate rentals, more high-end condominiums." [101]
In 2017, YIMBY groups successfully lobbied for the passage of Senate Bill 35 (SB 35), which streamlines housing under certain criteria, among other "housing package" of bills. [102]
From 2018 to 2020, the lobbying group California YIMBY joined over 100 Bay Area technology industry executives in supporting state senator Scott Wiener's Senate Bills 827 and 50. The bills failed in the state senate after multiple attempts at passage. [103] : 1 [104] : 1 [105] California YIMBY received $100,000 from Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, $1 million from Irish entrepreneurs John and Patrick Collison through their company, Stripe, and $500,000 raised by Pantheon Systems CEO Zach Rosen and GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. [106] [107]
YIMBY groups in California have supported the split roll effort to eliminate Proposition 13 protections for commercial properties, and supported the ballot measure known as Proposition 15, which would implement this change but failed to pass in 2020. This change would have potentially incentivized local governments to approve commercial property development (for its attendant business, payroll, sales and property tax revenue) over residential development, while providing a significant new source of funding for localities, mostly earmarked for education. [108]
Since 2012, several YIMBY groups were established in the greater Boston area. [109] [110] [111] One group argues that "...more smart housing development is the only way to retain a middle class in pricey cities like Boston and Cambridge." [112]
Several YIMBY groups, chiefly Open New York, have been created in New York City; according to an organizer: "In high-opportunity areas where people actually really want to live, the well-heeled, mostly white residents are able to use their perceived political power to stop the construction of basically anything," adding that low-income communities don't share that ability to keep development at bay: "Philosophically, we think that the disproportionate share of the burden of growth has been borne by low income, minority or industrial neighborhoods for far too long." [113] .
In 2011, a news website called `New York YIMBY` was created that focuses on construction trends in New York City. [114] While this news website is not strictly related to YIMBY political movement, in an interview with Politico , the creator of the site stated: "Zoning is the problem, not development in this city. I think people don't really understand that." [115]
In September 2018, the third annual Yes In My Backyard conference, named "YIMBYTown" occurred in Boston, hosted by that area's YIMBY community. [116] The first YIMBY conference was held in 2016 in Boulder, Colorado [117] and hosted by a group that included Boulder's former mayor, who commented that: "It is clearer than ever that if we really care about solving big national issues like inequality and climate change, tackling the lack of housing in thriving urban areas, caused largely by local zoning restrictions, is key." [118] The second annual conference was held in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Oakland, California. [119] These conferences have attracted attendees from the United States, as well as some from Canada, England, Australia, and other countries. [120] [25]
Name | Area |
---|---|
5th Square [121] | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
A Better Cambridge [122] | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
Abundant Housing LA [102] | Greater Los Angeles |
Abundant Housing Massachusetts [123] | Massachusetts |
Abundant Housing Vancouver [87] [88] | Vancouver |
AURA [124] [125] | Austin, Texas |
Bend YIMBY [126] | Bend, Oregon |
California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund (CaRLA) [126] | California |
California YIMBY [103] | California |
East Bay for Everyone [126] | San Francisco East Bay |
East Bay YIMBY [126] | San Francisco East Bay |
Greater Greater Washington [126] | Washington metropolitan area |
Greenbelt Alliance | San Francisco Bay Area |
Grow the Richmond [126] | Richmond District, San Francisco |
Legal Towns Foundation | New Jersey |
Open New York [127] | New York City |
Dallas Neighbors For Housing [128] | Dallas, Texas |
More Neighbours Toronto | Toronto |
Neighbors for More Neighbors [126] | Minneapolis |
People for Housing Orange County [126] | Orange County, California |
Peninsula for Everyone [126] | San Francisco Peninsula |
Portland for Everyone [126] | Portland, Oregon |
Santa Cruz YIMBY | Santa Cruz, California |
SF YIMBY [126] | San Francisco |
Sightline Institute [126] | Pacific Northwest |
Somerville YIMBY [129] | Somerville, Massachusetts |
Sustainable Growth Yolo | Yolo County, California |
SV@Home [126] | Santa Clara County, California |
Up for Growth [126] | United States |
Vermonters for People Oriented Places [130] | Vermont |
YIMBY Action [126] [127] | United States |
YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County [126] | San Diego County, California |
YIMBY Denver [131] | Denver |
YIMBY Durham [126] | Durham, North Carolina |
YIMBY Wilmington [132] | Wilmington, North Carolina |
YIMBY Law [126] | California |
YIMBYs of Northern Virginia | Northern Virginia |
In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a single use, they may combine several compatible activities by use, or in the case of form-based zoning, the differing regulations may govern the density, size and shape of allowed buildings whatever their use. The planning rules for each zone determine whether planning permission for a given development may be granted. Zoning may specify a variety of outright and conditional uses of land. It may indicate the size and dimensions of lots that land may be subdivided into, or the form and scale of buildings. These guidelines are set in order to guide urban growth and development.
NIMBY, an acronym for the phrase "not in my back yard", is a characterization of opposition by residents to proposed infrastructure developments in their local area, as well as support for strict land use regulations. It carries the connotation that such residents are only opposing the development because it is close to them and that they would tolerate or support it if it were built farther away. The residents are often called nimbys, and their viewpoint is called nimbyism. The opposite movement is known as YIMBY for "yes in my back yard".
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affordable housing refers to mortgages and a number of forms that exist along a continuum – from emergency homeless shelters, to transitional housing, to non-market rental, to formal and informal rental, indigenous housing, and ending with affordable home ownership.
Secondary suites (also known as accessory dwelling units (ADU), in-law apartments, granny flats, granny annexes or garden suites) are self-contained apartments, cottages, or small residential units, that are located on a property that has a separate main, single-family home, duplex, or other residential unit. In some cases, the ADU or in-law is attached to the principal dwelling or is an entirely separate unit, located above a garage, across a carport, or in the backyard on the same property. Reasons for wanting to add a secondary suite to a property may be to receive additional income, provide social and personal support to a family member, or obtain greater security.
Zoning is a law that divides a jurisdiction's land into districts, or zones, and limits how land in each district can be used. In the United States, zoning includes various land use laws enforced through the police power rights of state governments and local governments to exercise authority over privately owned real property.
The tiny-house movement is an architectural and social movement promoting the reduction and simplification of living spaces. According to the International Residential Code, a tiny house’s floorspace is no larger than 400 square feet (37 m2). Proponents suggest that tiny homes could offer low-cost, eco-friendly alternatives within the housing market and serve as a transitional housing option for homeless individuals.
Starting in the 1990s, the city of San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area have faced a serious housing shortage. Such is that in October 2015, San Francisco had the highest rents of any major US city. San Francisco has the slowest permitting process of any large city in the United States. The first stage can take an average of 450 calendar days, and the second stage taking 630 days for typical multi-family housing, or 860 days for a single-family house, and the second-most expensive construction costs in the world.
The San Francisco Bay Area Renters' Federation (SFBARF) is a political advocacy group formed in response to the present-day San Francisco housing shortage. SFBARF advocates for more housing development, and fewer zoning restrictions on the production of housing. It is one of several formed YIMBY groups in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Jesse Arreguín is an American politician serving as mayor of Berkeley, California. He served on the Berkeley Housing Commission and Rent Stabilization Board from 2004 to 2009 and represented District 4 on the Berkeley City Council from 2009 to 2016. He is the first Latino elected Berkeley's mayor and one of the youngest mayors in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mayor Arreguín is the president of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay Area's regional planning agency.
Steve PonTell is an entrepreneur, business executive and policy expert based in Southern California. He is president and chief executive officer of National Community Renaissance, founder of the La Jolla Institute and a leading voice on community development, housing affordability and neighborhood transformation. PonTell's works have been frequently published in newspapers throughout Southern California. He has led regional, state and national symposiums on the issue of housing affordability and has testified before Congress and the California Assembly on ways to address the housing shortage.
The property bubble in New Zealand is a major national economic and social issue. Since the early 1990s, house prices in New Zealand have risen considerably faster than incomes, putting increasing pressure on public housing providers as fewer households have access to housing on the private market. The property bubble has produced significant impacts on inequality in New Zealand, which now has one of the highest homelessness rate in the OECD and a record-high waiting list for public housing. Government policies have attempted to address the crisis since 2013, but have produced limited impacts to reduce prices or increase the supply of affordable housing. However, prices started falling in 2022 in response to tightening of mortgage availability and supply increasing. Some areas saw drops as high as around 9% - albeit from very high prices.
The term housing crisis refers to acute failures in the housing market at a given place and time. Depending on the context and the speaker, the term has taken on substantially different meanings. A prominent current use, for example, refers to shortages of available housing in the United States and other countries, but it has also been used to describe financial crises related to the real estate sector.
Since about 1970, California has been experiencing an extended and increasing housing shortage, such that by 2018, California ranked 49th among the states of the U.S. in terms of housing units per resident. This shortage has been estimated to be 3-4 million housing units as of 2017. Experts say that California needs to double its current rate of housing production to keep up with expected population growth and prevent prices from further increasing, and needs to quadruple the current rate of housing production over the next seven years in order for prices and rents to decline.
California Senate Bill 50 was a proposed California bill that would have preempted local government control of land zoning near public transit stations and jobs centers. The bill would have also required, at minimum, four-plex residential zoning statewide. The bill was the successor to a similar bill introduced by state senator Scott Wiener in January 2018 as Senate Bill 827 ; both would have applied to areas within one-half-mile (0.8 km) of frequent transit corridors, including rail stations and bus routes. The bills were sponsored by California YIMBY, a pro-housing lobbying group while they were opposed by local governments, anti-gentrification activists, and suburban homeowners. The bills were written in response to an ongoing housing affordability crisis in California's largest urban areas.
For many decades, the New York metropolitan area has suffered from an increasing shortage of housing, as housing supply has not met housing demand. As a result, New York City has the highest rents of any city in the United States.
Housing in the United States comes in a variety of forms and tenures. The rate of homeownership in the United States, as measured by the fraction of units that are owner-occupied, was 64% as of 2017. This rate is less than the rates in other large countries such as China (90%), Russia (89%) Mexico (80%), or Brazil (73%).
Single-family zoning is a type of planning restriction applied to certain residential zones in the United States and Canada in order to restrict development to only allow single-family detached homes. It disallows townhomes, duplexes, and multifamily housing (apartments) from being built on any plot of land with this zoning designation.
Open New York (ONY) is a New York-based non-profit advocacy organization focused on addressing metropolitan New York's housing shortage by increasing the rate of housing production in the city and region. Part of the broader "YIMBY" (Yes In My Back Yard) movement, the group advocates for the lifting of exclusionary zoning restrictions and reforms to zoning regulations to enable more residential homebuilding in what it terms "high-opportunity" areas near job centers and transit with high incomes.
More Neighbours Toronto is a Toronto-based housing advocacy organisation affiliated with the YIMBY movement. The organisation supports policies that would increase the supply of housing in Toronto.
The term "affordable housing" refers to housing that is considered economically accessible for individuals and families whose household income falls at or below the Area Median Income (AMI), as evaluated by either national or local government authorities through an officially recognized housing affordability index. However, in the US, the term is mostly used to refer to housing units that are deed restricted to households considered Low-Income, Very Low-Income, and Extremely Low-Income. These units are most often constructed by non-profit "affordable housing developers" who use a combination of private money and government subsidies. For-profit developers, when building market-rate developments, may include some "affordable" units, if required as part of a city's inclusionary zoning mandate.
Out of a desire for more-equitable housing policy, some city dwellers have started allying with developers instead of opposing them.
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ignored (help)City hall's licensing department rejected the application in May, after a handful of neighbours expressed worries about parking, noisy kids, and traffic. The daycare was rejected a second time by the board of variance, after eight neighbours showed up to a public meeting in June to oppose it.
There's a growing recognition that opposition to growth — in Berkeley and Oakland, for example — contributed to environmentally unfriendly suburban and exurban sprawl, and that "infill development" — dense urban housing near mass transit — is now the way to go.
The cause of our current shortage is 100% political," wrote Trauss in 2015, in an internet post that helped her build an army of followers to speak at public hearings, send letters and drum up support for housing on the internet.
Transmission lines have to cross fields; railroad tracks need to be built through rights of way. Some NIMBY passion will need to be replaced by some YIMBY enthusiasm—or at least some acquiescence.
Although they span the political spectrum, from far left social-justice activists to hard-core libertarian free marketeers, YIMBYs generally agree that cities should be accessible and affordable for everyone, whether they own a million-dollar mansion or rent a $900-a-month studio, and whether they work as a barista or just moved to Seattle for a new job at Amazon.
And its prescriptions vary thanks to the different groups that inevitably come together under its banner, such as construction industry people seeking deregulation aligning with social justice advocates who want tenant protections and affordability set-asides. Despite their different backgrounds, YIMBYs, who tend to be young and lean liberal, unify around the broad idea of adding more housing.
...Gustav Svärd, spokesperson for the progressive urban network YIMBY, which has more than 6,000 members. ... Gustav Svärd agrees that Stockholm has many positive things going on, and has witnessed a dramatic change among politicians since YIMBY was founded in 2007.
Svärd wants to completely rethink the PBL structure. "The PBL was basically shaped to prevent new developments, and it makes it virtually impossible to create truly connected urban fabrics. We need to transform, or abolish, the PBL and create real urban plans for larger areas. At the moment, every single house has to go through a massive process of bureaucracy and appeals.
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