It’s right in my back yard: Democrats are changing their approach to housing policy

Pro-housing advocates say Harris’ proposal to build 3 million new homes in his first term, part of an easing of federal

construction restrictions, feels like a big change to address the deficit. of houses in the country. It doesn’t hurt that Harris chose a pro-housing governor as his running mate.

Harris and other top Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, highlighted the housing shortage in their speeches at the Democratic National Convention — sending the YIMBYs into a frenzy. Washington Democrats have long supported affordable housing policies, including subsidies for low-income homebuyers and renters. But recent national messages on this issue have focused more on addressing the lack of supply, which is particularly strong in gray areas and cities where there are strong requirements for permits, environmental inspections and opposition from the so-called NIMBYs – “not in my backyard” – have reduced efforts to build more homes.

“There have been Democrats saying we should support affordable housing,” Armand Domalewski, a San Francisco-based data analyst who helped organize YIMBYs for Harris, told Business Insider. What is new on the national stage, he added, “the idea that part of the issue is local and national governments that block housing.”

Shortly after Domalewski created a WhatsApp group for pro-hosting patients about three weeks ago, “it just blew up,” he said. About 300 people are in attendance, he said, and the group estimated that about 6,000 people attended Wednesday’s fundraiser, which raised more than $100,000.

Sen. Brian Schatz, the head of finance, argued that his party had a “general change” in terms of construction. He called Harris “the first presidential candidate in at least a generation who cares about housing.” Governor Jared Polis of Colorado similarly described Harris at the event as “the most pro-housing president in the history of the United States.”

“We’re looking for someone who will work to solve the housing shortage,” Schatz said. “And the easiest way to solve the housing shortage is to make it possible for people to build as many houses as they can, especially for working people.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, a 46-year-old California Democrat who has been one of the loudest voices of urbanism in Congress, said in his remarks during a fundraiser that he was organizing the first YIMBY forum

congressional.

The fact that housing policy is high on the list of priorities in the Democratic state shows how severe the problem of affordability is. Harris, Obama, and other top Democrats are suddenly turning YIMBY – talking about the housing shortage because Americans are so worried about it. To a recent study83% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans say they think the lack of affordable housing is a big problem.

Former President Donald Trump has not said much about the housing campaign, although he and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, argued that they could solve the supply shortage by deporting millions of immigrants.

Several speakers at the YIMBY fundraiser argued that, despite being the anti-regulation party, Republicans have embraced red tape limiting what can be built and where. In the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, Ben Carson, who was Trump’s secretary of housing and urban development, wrote that Republicans should “oppose any attempt to weaken the family areas of and one.”