Land Matters

Those in the “Yes in My Backyard” or YIMBY movement have a simple goal: increase the supply of housing in cities across the US, and sky-high prices should come down. But they face a growing backlash from neighborhood activists fearful of gentrification and displacement. In California, a bill to fast-track more height and density near transit stations was derailed, even with a provision to require affordable homes through inclusionary housing, a land value capture mechanism. In this episode, Randy Shaw, a San Francisco-based tenants advocate and author of “Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in Urban America,” talks about the multi-pronged efforts needed to confront the affordable housing crisis in cities nationwide. For further reading, see Backyard Brouhaha in Land Lines magazine.