Key Vote Alert: Support Yes In My Backyard Act
Dear Representative,
On behalf of Americans for Prosperity, the nation’s largest grassroots organization, we urge you to support H.R. 3507, Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) Act introduced in the House by Representatives Derek Kilmer and Mike Flood. The YIMBY Act makes receipt of Community Development Block Grants funding to localities conditional upon recipients submitting a plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to track restrictive zoning policies such as limits on duplexes, multifamily housing, and manufactured housing, as well as burdensome permitting requirements.
For years, local governments have unnecessarily erected barriers that stand in the way of individuals and families realizing their potential by accessing housing and using land as they see fit. The purpose of the YIMBY Act is to discourage the use of discriminatory land use policies and remove barriers to making housing more affordable through transparency in the Community Development Block Grant program. It will help ensure that governments identify and remove regulations that prevent Americans from pursuing housing opportunities that will enable them to thrive.
Removing barriers to land use and zoning regulations is vital to Americans. These regulations became common in the U.S. in the early 20th century and have increased substantially over the decades. Land use and zoning restrictions tend to have a greater impact on the lives of ordinary Americans than any other regulation and affect the availability and cost of housing on a daily basis. Land use regulations can have a substantial impact on home mortgage and rental prices, the location and density of housing, the length of commutes, access to different modes of transportation, neighborhood or city demographics, and a variety of other important factors.
Overly burdensome regulations related to housing, land use, and zoning make housing more costly and erect barriers to economic growth and geographic mobility. While the share of households spending more than 30 percent of income on housing has dropped in recent years, nearly half of renter households exceed this threshold. More than 18 million American households pay more than half their income on housing. Some scholars estimate that land use regulation reduces U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.5 percent each year. One critical cause of these trends is the failure to build sufficient housing, particularly in key metropolitan areas.
The YIMBY Act is a step in the right direction to removing barriers from housing, land use, and zoning regulations. It is for these reasons we urge you to support H.R. 3507, Yes In My Backyard Act.
This vote will be recorded in our legislative scorecard. To see what other votes have been included, please visit AFP’s scorecard online at: AFPscorecard.org.
Sincerely,
Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer
Americans for Prosperity
