Defeating SB 827 Did Not Discourage the YIMBY Movement

Several weeks ago the controversial, high-profile SB 827 died quickly, but not quietly, in the California Legislature, but not before it cleaved the state’s environmental movement and generated a great deal of discussion about the impact of increased development on the cost of housing.

At CityLab, Nolan Gray writes that while the defeat of SB 827 was disappointing for YIMBYs, it shouldn’t be taken as a rebuke of the movement as whole.

There are, for example, several other housing bills in California with a similar theme, and “taken together, they would legalize a lot of new housing in the Golden State.”

Grey also cites initiatives in Boston, Minneapolis, Boulder, and Austin that aim to encourage development of new housing options.

“The defeat of SB 827 isn’t the end of the YIMBY movement,” Gray writes. “If this flurry of new state and local land-use reform initiatives indicates anything, it may only be the beginning.”