The New York Times provides an in-depth exploration of the politics and personalities behind the YIMBY organization known as the SF Bay Area Renters' Federation (BARF).
Conor Dougherty writes a feature exposé, of sorts, on the ideas and context behind the rise of the SF Bay Area Renters' Federation (BARF), with local activist Sonja Trauss at the helm. According to Daugherty,
Ms. Trauss is a self-described anarchist and the head of the SF Bay Area Renters’ Federation, an upstart political group that is pushing for more development. Its platform is simple: Members want San Francisco and its suburbs to build more of every kind of housing. More subsidized affordable housing, more market-rate rentals, more high-end condominiums.
Dougherty presents Trauss as the effect of a lengthening tradition of twists housing politics in San Francisco and the Bay Area. But the politics of Trauss's organization have found solidarity elsewhere in the Bay Area. According to Duagherty, " Ms. Trauss’s group is one of several pro-housing organizations (GrowSF and East Bay Forward are others) that represent a kind of 'Yimby' party, built on the frustrations of young professionals who feel priced out of the Bay Area."
The in-depth, lengthy article includes video testimonials from more voices on the issue, such as a Jennifer Fieber, from the San Francisco Tenants Union, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, and a fellow anarchist YIMBY that goes by the name of Starchild.
The article even credits the famously in-depth report by Kim-Mai Cutler on the genesis of the Bay Area housing crunch as the inspiration behind Trauss's activism. Though Trauss is the central figure of the article, the article is really about the politics of housing in the Bay Area—a singular politics for a singular place.
Read the full story: In Cramped and Costly Bay Area, Cries to Build, Baby, Build
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