From NIMBY to YIMBY: Housing Solutions for a Global Community

Houses in Manassas, Virginia, where single-family zoning is the norm. (Curbed)

Faced with a staggering number of lawsuits from home sellers arguing artificially inflated realtor commissions, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has agreed to a deal that could lead to an end to the standard six percent realtor commissions rate typically passed on to home sellers.

As almost 90 percent of home sales are managed by NAR-affiliated realtors, this deal could mark a landmark win for homeowners, with potential for home selling costs to fall substantially. Yet, for those aspiring to buy, the landscape remains daunting.

Recent studies have shown that the average American is unable to afford a house in 99 percent of the country. This crisis is not just limited to the United States; cities around the world are overcrowded, and housing in general is becoming less and less affordable. The UN estimates that the amount of people around the world lacking basic housing services will nearly double from 1.6 billion to three billion people by 2030.

High density housing projects have the potential to provide affordable housing to those who otherwise could not afford to live in many urban areas. However, for decades, the Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) movement has pushed back against the construction of high density housing, specifically in the suburbs.

Emerging in direct opposition to the NIMBY position is the Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) movement. Beginning in the San Francisco area in the 2010s, the movement has amassed followers from both sides of the aisle even amid high levels of partisanship across the country.

The transformation and amendment of zoning laws is one of the principal causes of the YIMBY position. A case study on housing trends in Washington, DC found a strong correlation between the permittance of high-density housing as per the area’s zoning laws and construction of new homes in appreciating neighborhoods.

However, many zoning regulations that focus on single-family homes are decades old and can be incredibly difficult and time-consuming to change. In order to combat the housing crisis without working to amend laws in current cities, countries around the world have been engaging in a city-building boom. 

Egypt, for example, is in the midst of constructing a new “administrative capital” to combat overcrowding in Cairo. Wealthy investors are pouring their capital into city creation in places like the American southwest, Kenya, and India.

These new cities concentrate on efficient use of space and energy, including prioritizing high density housing over suburban sprawl. This timely calculation comes amid estimates that the population of urban areas will grow by 2.5 billion by 2050. 

Although these cities have the capacity to provide affordable housing for countless otherwise disenfranchised inhabitants, high upfront costs for infrastructure development remain a barrier to investment. The YIMBY movement, however, demonstrates that new cities are filling a need within the United States and around the world, and their success could help millions.