Upzone the coastal elites

Modeling Inclusionary Zoning’s Impact on Housing Production in Los Angeles: Tradeoffs and Policy Implications - Terner Center Guest author Shane Phillips from the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies has authored a paper that uses the Terner Housing Policy Simulator to estimate the potential impacts of different inc...

It's trading multiple dollars, probably in excess of $10, from some renters, who are generally poorer than homeowners, for every dollar of discount.

I believe that creates more net need for subsidized housing.

Hard truth can be uncomfortable.

ternercenter.berkeley.edu/research-and...

Unfunded Inclusionary zoning is counterproductive. A tax on new supply that chokes growth and thus raises rents way more than the meager amount of rent discounts it pays for.

Yeah, I don't trust this scotus to overturn below inflation rent control (esp with vacancy control) and leave rent stabilization alone.

"suboptimal" hides that it's counterproductive. Raising general rents way more than the discounted rents it directly produces.

And for what? The right wing influencers who are fear-mongering about this aren't going to be satisfied with blocking SB 549 and getting this executive order on SB 9. To the contrary, caving to their demands just emboldens them to keep pushing disinformation. 8/8

After outcry, L.A. restricts duplexes in Pacific Palisades L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is restricting duplex construction in Pacific Palisades after an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom to weaken a state housing law.

Mayor Bass’ decision to block SB 9, the state duplex and lot split law, in the Palisades will force a lot of people who would have been able to rebuild their houses and move back home to sell their lots to developers and move away, and here’s why.

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Why building more homes near transit will transform lives across California | Opinion California cities have largely banned apartments and condos, preventing people from living near jobs and transit systems their taxes fund.

Allowing more homes near high-quality transit is a key strategy to make housing more abundant & affordable, increase transit ridership & reduce traffic congestion & pollution.

I’m authoring legislation to get this done. SB 79 will help California meet our housing, transit & climate goals.

YIMBY like IZ. We dislike funding IZ off the backs of renters. Fund IZ with general taxes.

You're really outing yourself as a NIMBY with that nonsense.

Episode 95: Low-Rise Multifamily with Tobias Peter - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies Seattle has built more than 20,000 townhomes over the past 30 years. We discuss their impacts on affordability, homeownership, and more.

when a landscaping contractor can walk into a permit office and get a permit to build a home with little upfront fees and easy to handle paperwork, and they can reliably build small multifamily, then we're cooking.

www.lewis.ucla.edu/2025/07/30/9...

they're not allowed to. it's so complicated and expensive to entitle land, and the allowances so minor, that only the most sophisticated builders making the most high end housing can earn a profit.

Episode 95: Low-Rise Multifamily with Tobias Peter - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies Seattle has built more than 20,000 townhomes over the past 30 years. We discuss their impacts on affordability, homeownership, and more.

I'm mad that not adopting yimby policy and simplifying homebuilding to give predictable profits, means that the less sophisticated homebuilders, who might currently be doing landscaping, or renovations, or the like, don't get to move up the economic ladder.

www.lewis.ucla.edu/2025/07/30/9...

you're mad that yimby policy may enable builders to make a bit of money, I'm mad that not adopting yimby policy enables builders to make 50 times that.

oregoneconomicanalysis.com/2021/03/16/w... (CA data would be similar, but this is what I have offhand)

this idea that yimbys "center profit not people" is just so misplaced. What happens when we don't allow profitable homebuilding? Landlords and nimby homeowners get rich, renters suffer. The profits of developers are peanuts in comparison to those numbers.

Newsom veto'd the bill. We were pissed. YIMBYs do not support defunding housing assistance.

We have very very few politicans that are 100% on yimby issues. Wiener, Wicks, Arreguin, Lee, and a few others maybe. Newsom is too inconsistent to be one.

AB 2053 - California YIMBY This bill would establish the California Housing Authority, an independent state body, and authorize this authority to construct housing and lease it to a mix of household income ranges through an own...

So YIMBY.

cayimby.org/legislation/...

Ahh yes, those upstarts YIMBYs are secretly already in power, and have had time to reap the rewards without cities doing everything in their power to slow progress.

The complexity of these laws is a huge barrier to the kind of small contractors building low density multifamily we need.

The YIMBY take on vacancy taxes has been pretty clear as well. They're fine, although they won't do much, but why are they so often exempting single family homes.

Exactly...

It really doesn't. The high demand cities have very very low vacancy rates. The claim otherwise depends on counting homes being renovated, or vacant for a few weeks between tenants.

So YIMBYs say market rate housing is NECESSARY but not sufficient, and you say market rate housing is necessary but NOT SUFFICIENT?

The emphasis is just in the wrong places is again an odd reason to oppose a movement.

Basically, I think you have to provide no more than the minimum required locally, or the maximum of the state law, whichever is less.

But could seemingly have less, if you can waive the local minimum.

I didn't see any such exemptions.

leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNa...

It's not just the transit qualifier, also a retail and parking one. And the parking clause is tricky to interpret, but I think covers anything from parking free to a lowish max parking ratio.

So you want a supply focused approach that prioritizes the most vulnerable. And you're upset about the people who want to upzone cities, streamline building, and increase funding for affordable housing. Do you think we can supply the most vulnerable without reforms?

Odd approach.

The socialism we need: capitalism has failed to build enough urban housing

Your socialism: capitalism built a bunch of housing where no one wants to live and without nearby jobs, we should have hukou and kick newcomes out there

See, e.g., the California legislature

It's significant politically to prevent any NIMBY adjacent activity from shielding itself with left sounding language. It gives cover to politicians.

The YIMBY movement isn't about prioritizing/ignoring one form of housing over another. It's about advancing all forms that the urban areas with deep shortages.

YIMBYs and abundance embrace policies that actually work to improve tenant outcomes. That you can make comparisons with libertarians but struggle to do so for the classic progressive left, is not an indictment of YIMBY, it's an indictment of the old progressive movement. KOC and others have moved on

a man with a mustache is sitting on a swing in a park ALT: a man with a mustache is sitting on a swing in a park

Supporting only public housing in America.