Abstract
In recent years, local governments across the United States have turned to lifting zoning restrictions as a mechanism to attenuate the affordable housing crisis prevalent in many urban areas. Proponents of this so-called “Yes In My Backyard” (YIMBY) movement suggest that the crisis is at least partly a supply problem caused by zoning restrictions and that, if these artificial barriers to housing production were removed, it follows that more housing production would occur and lead to some level of housing cost reduction. Opponents suggest that there are other factors overlooked by proponents that, if controlled for, limit or nullify the effectiveness of the policy intervention.
In this panel, scholars will review these diverging perspectives based on what research to date tells us about the effectiveness and impacts of YIMBY-ism.