YIMBYs for Harris in the News
“Welcome to YIMBYchella!”
To the thousands who had tuned in, Armand Domalewski’s words required no explanation. For everyone else, what he meant was that the call was the equivalent of the hip Southern California music festival Coachella for the political movement known as YIMBY—“Yes in My Backyard.”
The “YIMBYs for Harris” convening attracted some 30,000 participants on a recent Wednesday night. It represented a breakthrough moment for the decade-old YIMBY movement, which seeks to undo the zoning regulations and procedural requirements that make it difficult to build new housing. As home prices and rents have skyrocketed across the nation, experts have largely concluded that the problem is rooted in basic supply and demand—a lack of available housing at all price points. The YIMBYs have spent years trying to force local policymakers to address the situation, battling intense headwinds from entrenched “not in my backyard,” or NIMBY, interests.
Harris’s speech accepting her party’s nomination also alluded to the YIMBYs’ rallying cry, pledging to “end America’s housing shortage.” She has made housing the centerpiece of her policy proposals to fight the rising cost of living, with a plan she says would result in three million new homes being built.
"Kamala Harris is a YIMBY," said Armand Domalewski, the co-founder of YIMBYs for Harris, to HuffPost. That might be good politics: "Housing costs are a mainstream political issue," especially in swing states like Arizona and Nevada where "rent and home prices have spiked" in recent years, said HuffPost.
America's housing crisis "has its roots in regulations enacted by innumerable municipalities," Harvard University economist Edward L. Glaeser said at The New York Times. That's why the median-price of a single-family home now clocks in at $422,000. But those NIMBY towns won't back off the building barriers "out of the goodness of their hearts." If Harris truly wants to make a dent in the cost of housing, she'll need to threaten federal funding that goes to states and cities if they don't change course. Otherwise, "it is hard for the federal government to engineer change at the hyperlocal level."
KPBS San Diego
More than 30,000 Harris supporters joined a "YIMBYs for Harris" Zoom call on Wednesday that featured several San Diego elected officials including Rep. Scott Peters, La Mesa City Councilmember Colin Parent and Assemblymember Chris Ward. As of Friday afternoon, the group had raised more than $133,000 for the Harris campaign.
"It's great to have that support from the federal government for the work we do on the ground as YIMBYs at the state, and especially at the local level," Peters said. "I'm excited to work with the Harris-Walz administration to make this vision a reality (and) pass policies like my Building More Housing Near Transit Act, which would increase supply in transit-oriented neighborhoods, boost public transit ridership and get cars off the road."
In her speech at last week's Democratic National Convention, Vice President Harris' said her administration "will end America's housing shortage."
While it sounds like a typical statement for a political campaign, the subtext that America needs to prioritize building housing strikes a new note for Democratic politics on such a big stage.
How are those words resonating here in Massachusetts, where Democrats run the show and housing is scarce? Radio Boston talks with two young elected leaders for their take. State Rep. Andy Vargas of Haverhill, a member of "YIMBYs For Harris," joins the show along with Boston City Councilor Enrique Pepén.
On the call, Rhodes-Conway said building more housing and bolstering Madison’s transit systems were among her “top priorities” as mayor. She specifically mentioned Madison’s new bus rapid transit system, which received 75% of its capital investment from federal infrastructure funding.
“None of this can really have the impact that it needs to have if we don’t have a partner in the White House,” Rhodes-Conway said.
The YIMBY movement has gained political traction this election cycle. Throughout a new advertising campaign airing this week, the Harris-Walz campaign has centered housing affordability. Harris pledged that her administration would oversee building 3 million homes over the next four years, though details on how she plans to do so are sparse. Harris has proposed offering up to $25,000 in assistance to first-time home buyers.
During what they are dubbing “YIMBYchella” on Wednesday night, Moore, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, and US Sen. Brian Schatz plan to make the case for federal action to drive down housing costs, paired with looser zoning laws at the state and municipal level. Among pro-housing advocates, it’s viewed as the formula to ending the nation’s persistent housing crunch. “Tons of people wanted to take part, and it just kind of took a life of its own,” Armand Domalewski, one of the event’s organizers, told Semafor. “There’s been so much enthusiasm.”
Harris has made housing affordability part of her economic agenda. Her campaign on Tuesday released a minute-long ad spotlighting her recent proposal to construct three million new housing units over four years, part of an August media ad buy targeting voters in swing states like Nevada. At the Democratic National Convention last week, Harris vowed to “end America’s housing shortage.”
The San Francisco Chronicle
The excitement of the “yes in my backyard” movement, once a Bay Area grassroots campaign, was palpable on the YIMBYs for Harris call. The sometimes chaotic presentation featured lots of cheering, an organizer wearing American flag overalls and a sort-of villain character called “Nimbee,” a person in a bee costume dancing around and pretending to drink honey, symbolizing “not in my backyard” folks who oppose building more homes in their communities.
Speakers included Harris surrogates and leaders in the pro-housing movement, including Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who advocated for building more homes near transit and eradicating strict zoning rules.
The Huffington Post
A select group of politically engaged pro-housing activists who are part of the self-described “Yes in My Backyard” (YIMBY) movement were celebrating Harris’ promise, in a mid-August stump speech, to “take down barriers and cut red tape” that block housing construction and see 3 million new homes built in her first term as president.
The promise, and its high profile at the convention, amounted to a coming-out party for YIMBYism within the Democratic Party, as an idea long embraced by some of the party’s leading thinkers finally met its political moment.“
This is the root cause of expensive rent,” said Bharat Ramamurti, who served as the deputy director of the National Economic Council under President Joe Biden. “I think the core idea of increasing supply and looking at ways the federal government can do that has been the mainstream Democratic position.”
In Chicago last week, Kamala Harris and other Democratic leaders seized on the theme that America’s housing crisis is a supply-side problem worsened by local regulations that make it difficult to build enough new homes.
Harris’ spotlight on housing, rare for a presidential campaign, was a breakout moment for lawmakers and activists aligned with the YIMBY, or Yes in My Back Yard, cause — a movement sparked in San Francisco by activists frustrated by the city’s soaring rents and tight housing market.
YIMBY-aligned Californians are trying to help Harris capitalize on the issue. Rep. Robert Garcia, Wiener and Foote will be part of a “YIMBYs for Harris” organizing call on Wednesday. Other speakers include Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz and San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
Harris’ housing plan, which calls for building 3 million homes by the end of her first term if she’s elected, will ultimately require buy-in from Congress, and includes things such as expanding the Low Income Housing Tax credit, something the Biden administration has already been trying to do. Getting these policies passed will almost certainly be an uphill battle.
After Harris tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Armand Domalewski started a WhatsApp group called “YIMBYs for Harris,” which he said quickly “blew up.” The group now has a website and is hosting an online fundraiser for Harris next week.
“My goal with this is to demonstrate to the Democratic Party that YIMBYs are a big, important constituency,” he said. “We’re a voice that matters.”
Armand Domalewski, lead organizer for YIMBYs for Harris, said he was moved to start the campaign after other affinity groups such as White Dudes for Harris and #WinWithBlackWomen attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters and raised millions of dollars.
Momentum to rally around the president with YIMBY voters kicked into gear when Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — a favorite among pro-housing advocates — as her running mate.
Domalewski said his group has more than 700 members after about two weeks and this month will host a digital fundraising event featuring Wiener, Mayor London Breed, other politicians from around the country, and journalist Matt Yglesias.
“I would like to see the White House take more of a stand on housing and set the tone for state legislatures to follow,” Domalewski said.
“We reached out to as many politicians with cats as we possibly could,” to recruit speakers, Deming said.
The group joined TikTok and gained about 50,000 followers in the first 24 hours, Deming said. Word spread, resulting in about 35,000 attendees and $330,000 raised from the Cat Ladies’ call on Aug. 4, according to organizers.
“This is what grassroots community building can look like in the age of social media,” Deming said.
“YIMBYs for Harris” and “Swifties for Harris” are among the calls scheduled for later this month.