We Need More Yimby
There is an intractable problem in this country…not enough housing for people.
It can be broken down into two distinct though connected pieces…a housing shortage in general and little affordable housing…both of which have impacts across the country and across political lines. At the urging of their citizens, the governments in blue and red states are beginning to implement policies to correct the imbalance.
Much can be traced to the suburbanization of America following World War II. With the advent of government programs, returning vets left behind city apartments for newly created suburban houses. They also left behind the poor residents and cohesion of city life for a life of commuting to work, shopping, church, and school all by car.
To go along with the cul-de-sacs, zoning was instituted to make sure that the single-family house was the only thing that could be built. 80 years later, these policies have resulted in not enough housing and not enough affordable housing. It has also resulted in the stratification of society so that a suburban kid would never meet someone that wasn’t in their socio-economic class including race.
While there have always been rich, poor, and middle-class neighborhoods, the classes lived in closer proximity to each other. The Upper East Side in Manhattan is one example where the rich had their homes west of Lexington Avenue and the farther east one went neighborhoods became poorer. But the walk from Lexington Avenue to the farthest east street is only a matter of minutes.
It seems America has become atrophied and stuck. Because single-family homes were the standard dream sold to us, many are afraid of experimenting with other kinds of dwellings. Even building a two-family home was not allowed in most of America.
Until recently, the cry heard throughout the nation was NIMBY. Today more and more Americans are saying YIMBY. Many adhere to the philosophy of building different forms of housing near one another. YIMBYs are Republican, Democrat, conservative and liberal. From rural and red Montana to blue and liberal California, people understand that to solve the housing crisis, a mix of housing must be built.
Montana, like several other states, has done away with all single-family zoning. A review of buildings from the early 20th century reveals there are different size buildings next to each other. People had a choice of housing from renting a room to apartments to single-family housing. There were commercial establishments in very close proximity to residential buildings.
So why would someone oppose the needed reform to have more supply of housing for all segments of society? The greatest reason is fear. Fear of falling property values, fear that someone would move into the house next door who might be a different race, fear of change.
In the end, America must have more inclusive zoning. Otherwise, we should get used to kids living with parents well into adulthood. And ultimately our housing stock will become unaffordable to all but the most well-to-do. The only way out of our shortage is to build all types of housing.
