Tag: NIMBY

9 Tips for Overcoming NIMBY Opposition

Lessons for affordable housing developers from the trenches.

What Is NIMBYism and How Do Affordable Housing Developers Respond to...

NIMBYism is often expressed as concerns about crime, congestion, schools, property values, and “quality of life.” But when developments are built these fears rarely come to pass.

Could France’s Approach to Combating NIMBYism Work in the United States?

Twenty years ago France passed a law that required cities to have a certain percentage of social housing or face penalties for failing to comply. Since then the country’s most exclusionary cities and suburbs have seen a fivefold increase in the availability of social housing, according to a new study.

How Engagement and Design Won Over Wary Neighbors

Despite initial opposition, a low-income housing community was built in an upscale subdivision in California.

Shelter Shorts: The Week in Community Development, Jan. 19

A Health Care Conundrum | L.A. Takes Steps to House its Homeless | Post-Disaster Lessons for Nonprofits | An Eviction Crisis is Here | Discrimination in Auto Lending

When Affordable Housing Meets Free-Market Fantasy

Because affordable housing doesn’t yield acceptable profits to real estate investors, the only way a substantial amount of it is going to get built is if it’s publicly funded.

Adding Housing Doesn’t Overcrowd Schools

Adding housing doesn't correlate with increased school enrollment, according to a new study. But will housing advocates be able to make use of this information?

Why We Must Build

We can’t build our way out of the housing crisis . . . but we won’t get out without building.

Interview with John Henneberger, Texas Low Income Housing Information Service–Part 1

Shelterforce talks with John Henneberger of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service, one of the 2014 MacArthur Fellows.

Community Fears About Shelters, Section 8 Don’t Materialize

NIMBY fights are a big obstacle to allowing lower-income households access to opportunity. Truth is, voucher holders don't increase crime in a neighborhood.

Public Housing Residents as Activists

In the 1990s, a group I co-founded, the Eviction Defense Network, was asked by public housing residents to organize alongside them during the HOPE...

Who, Why, and How Communities Oppose Affordable Housing

The results of a survey of affordable housing developers in New York State and their experiences with communities that oppose affordable housing.

NIMBY: Where, When, And to Which Developers It Happens

Looking at how affordable housing developers deal with community opposition, we tackle the issue of the timing of opposition and developer responses. 

Despite Changing Dollar Store Demographic, NIMBY Attitude Persists

Last winter I wrote about a possible trend in which dollar stores were moving into older downtowns, filling vacant spaces abandoned decades ago when...

Fear of Affordable Housing: Perception vs. Reality

Affordable housing developments are often controversial and give rise to claims of dire consequences for quality of life and property values. But once they are built, does anyone realize they are there?

NIMBYism in the Big City

I am accustomed to think of NIMBY (“Not in my back yard”) as referring to suburban homeowners who want to keep out affordable housing,...

Seattle Neighborhood Planning

At first glance, the Neighborhood Planning Program in Seattle, Washington, sounds like a remarkably progressive idea. Begun in 1995, the program is one of...

How Well Did Yonkers Fair Housing Measures Work?

Across the United States since the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, only a handful of lawsuits have challenged systematic racial discrimination...