Last week, during the CHA meeting (Commission on Housing Affordability), Chris Gamvroulus, President of Ivory Development and a CHA member, told a story about Ivory’s 4-year saga to get approval to build a moderately dense development on a few acres in Salt Lake City’s avenues neighborhood. As part of his comments, he said this: “Very progressive people who live in the avenues are just as NIMBY as very conservative people who live in the ‘burbs.”
Over the course of my career as a planner, I think it is fair to say that for much of that time the primary objections to allowing for any kind of development other than relatively large-lot single family homes came from those “‘burb” neighborhoods, usually made up of politically conservative residents. The NIMBY attitude there was very much against small lots, “missing middle” style housing, and certainly against any kind of increased density.
How the times, they are a’changin’. This change was reflected in the CHA comment that Chris made, and it is apparent from observations made by urban affairs writers, national and locally. A good example of this is the commentary by a couple of journalists about the YIMBYtown 2024 conference held at the end of February in Austin, Texas.
Conor Dougherty, a New York Times reporter who covers housing and development, and who has attended every YIMBYtown conference since its inception in 2016, describes the conference and the YIMBY movement:
…the Yimbytown conference (is) an ideologically safe space where liberal young professionals could talk to other liberal young professionals about the particular problems of cities with a lot of liberal young professionals: not enough bike lanes and transit, too many restrictive zoning laws.
The event began in 2016 in Boulder, Colo., and has ever since revolved around a coalition of left and center Democrats who want to make America’s neighborhoods less exclusive and its housing more dense. (YIMBY, a pro-housing movement that is increasingly an identity, stands for “Yes in my backyard.”)
But at this year’s conference:
… the vibes and crowd were surprisingly different …, which was held at the University of Texas at Austin in February. In addition to vegan lunches and name tags with preferred pronouns, the conference included — even celebrated — a group that had until recently been unwelcome: red-state Republicans.
A couple of other writers who were at the conference for Bloomberg Citylab, Megan Kimble and Kriston Capps, said of YIMBYs: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-07/at-austin-s-yimbytown-fans-of-zoning-reform-seek-common-ground?srnd=citylab-housing:
Early YIMBYs were partisan in a “big tent” sense, … even if its members were mostly progressive, the movement tried to accommodate different ideologies and motivations. “But now it’s actually literal,” she said. “There are Republicans sponsoring bills. We have to maintain that for success.”
One person described the convergence of outcomes on land use and zoning reform by those across the political spectrum as a policy “horseshoe”:
… on some issues, the far right is closer to the far left than the center.
Zoning reform is the kind of procedural issue that usually fails to capture headlines. But that same under-the-radar quality enables Democrats and Republicans at either end of the horseshoe to come together in bipartisan coalitions to make real change.
“We can focus on approaching a lot of the Republicans who are concerned about how zoning impacts property rights, how zoning is going to affect our communities and how they’re growing,” said Kendall Cotton, the chief executive of the Frontier Institute, a free-market think tank in Helena, Mont. “And then other groups that have connections on the left can talk to those folks about the climate change impacts of zoning, and building denser, more walkable cities, and the social justice end of it.”
There’s lots of interesting stuff in the New York Times and Bloomberg stories which I’m tempted to pull excerpts from, but that would make this post really long, so go read them, I think you’ll find it eye-opening.
And we even find the same trend playing out here in Utah. Cases in point: a recent opinion piece in the DesNews by Kevin Greene, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Utah. He writes:
Utah’s affordable housing crisis is a dire threat to the American dream for countless hardworking families in our state.
The leading culprits behind this shortage are heavy-handed government zoning and land use regulations. These burdensome restrictions are an artificial chokehold on our housing supply, driving up costs and slamming the door on affordable housing options.
And what is the solution the far-right of the political spectrum in Utah is calling for?
In next year’s session, lawmakers should focus on legalizing “missing middle” housing like townhomes and duplexes, allowing for multifamily and mixed-use buildings in commercial zones, reducing minimum lot sizes and giving landowners across the state the freedom of accessory dwelling units.
Several other states, from California to Montana, have already taken bold action to remove barriers and legalize more affordable housing options. Utah must follow their lead. This is not a partisan issue — it’s about doing what’s right for our citizens.
And then over the July 4th weekend, this opinion piece by Lee Sands of the ultra-conservative Libertas Institute was published on the freedoms that have been lost. What are those freedoms?
As we reflect on the freedoms celebrated in the Declaration of Independence, it is essential to acknowledge those we have lost along the way. The corner store, the home-based business and the starter home are more than nostalgic memories; the freedom to build them are important elements of a free society. By recognizing and addressing these losses, we restore our right to structure our governance according to our own judgment.
In other words, single-use zoning, ADUs, and conditional use permits for home occupations are key freedoms that have been compromised by local government and need to be restored. Hmmm. Minutemen (and women), prepare to storm your planning commission and council meetings! I don’t necessarily disagree with what Lee is pointing out, it just strikes me as to how much zoning reform is getting blended into the public consciousness. It’s now a theme of freedom for the Independence Day holidays.
It certainly has been the case here in the Beehive State that the recent land use and housing initiatives have been spearheaded by conservative Republicans, but that’s in large measure because Utah’s political establishment is almost entirely conservative Republican. But it’s interesting to me to see how the attitude and approach has changed over the years from one of “just leave property owners alone,” usually to develop mostly large-lot single-family homes, to the current batch of legislative bills.
The horseshoe is turning into a full circle!