The YIMBY movement is having a moment, and Maryland’s housing advocates are very here for it.
Shorthand for “yes in my backyard” — a cheeky response to the better-known NIMBY movement — the pro-housing YIMBY lobby is swooning over national attention in recent weeks.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are pledging to bring home costs down if they win the White House this November. And former President Barack Obama talked up the need to “clear away some of the outdated laws and regulations that made it harder to build homes” in his speech last month at the Democratic National Convention — some of his most forceful comments on the topic yet.
Top Maryland Democrats have taken up the call to action. Gov. Wes Moore and Housing Secretary Jake Day spoke late last month during a “YIMBYs for Harris” Zoom call that raised over $100,000 for the Harris-Walz ticket. Day praised Moore for being “the most pro-housing governor in America.”
For those who have long toiled in the movement, it feels like a vindication.
“If you had told me, even just a couple years ago, it would look like this, I would’ve thought you were completely nuts,” said Nick Stewart, who co-founded the Baltimore County-based advocacy and good governance group We The People. “The acceleration of this issue has been nothing short of remarkable.”
Whether the Democrats’ new YIMBY fervor will translate into policy changes and more housing on the ground is less certain, as Moore and others who have tried already know.
Ultimately, local governments largely control zoning and land use matters, and even broad support for the topic regionally hasn’t been enough to greenlight enough new homes to satisfy the demand in Maryland and elsewhere. Instead, pro-housing proponents often catch heat from their counterparts — yes, including the NIMBYs — for seeking to change how people treat one of the most fundamental American values: the right to property.
“It’s been clear for a long time that people who oppose progress do so consistently and loudly and generally from a place of privilege,” said Baltimore City Councilman Ryan Dorsey, a Democrat who is unopposed to win a third term in November.
Boosted by a decisive primary victory, Dorsey said he plans to nurture a more YIMBY-friendly environment in the next council. He acknowledged his own views on the matter have shifted over the past eight years due to the inherent connection between land use and transportation, his chief issue.
The problem with YIMBYism, Dorsey said, has been championing a movement that can bring out strong opinions from homeowners, and even renters, who already live in a given community. Absent from these discussions, Dorsey said, are the households that would benefit from moving to these neighborhoods if there were more housing, but aren’t necessarily showing up to planning meetings.
Dorsey said the perceptions around housing have started to shift since the COVID-19 pandemic out of necessity — when mortgage interest rates, rents and other everyday costs began to rise.
“When I talk to people about the housing cost burdens they are bearing,” he said, “they understand the basic concept of supply and demand.”
Two independent polls conducted earlier this year captured Marylanders’ support for lowering housing costs and more action from elected leaders to get it done.
Those polls helped Moore’s administration pass a package of housing policies during this year’s General Assembly session that aimed to bring costs down and empower renters with greater protections.
“There are places that we should not build, and we understand that,” Moore told the Zoom audience during the YIMBYs for Harris event. “But in places that we can and should, we will.”
The Maryland Democrat signed his three-pronged housing policy package into law this past May. It includes legislation designed to incentivize more building, finance more development projects and make it more difficult for renters to be forced out of their homes.
But even with a certified YIMBY in Annapolis, the path to adding more housing supply around the state has been difficult.
Baltimore County, in many ways, has become the battleground for Maryland’s YIMBY army. They view success there as key to making their mark in the state.
The county, locked into a consent decree with the federal government that aims to rectify decades of discriminatory housing policies, has set a goal of building 1,000 new affordable housing units by 2027.
With a little more than a year left, county officials have funded about 75% of their goal, according to county spokeswoman Erica Palmisano. The Baltimore region, which includes the county, is short at least 33,000 total units, according to state estimates.
Baltimore County’s housing shortage came into stark relief this year as HUD recently began considering relocating as many as 303 households out of one Lansdowne apartment complex that the agency describes as “unacceptable” for habitation. The county and HUD have acknowledged the difficulty of rehoming so many people with the current housing supply.
Yet Baltimore County Council representatives have sought this year to make it harder to build new housing in desirable school districts, instead of opting to build new schools or redistribute students across the whole school system. Developers in East Towson, Lutherville and Middle River have incurred expensive delays due to fierce community opposition and council-imposed barriers. And the administration of County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat now running for Congress, failed in its attempts to circumvent County Council involvement in some land-use decisions.
Baltimore County Council Chair Izzy Patoka said council members must balance the pressures from constituents with a growing body of concerns about the county’s infrastructure — be it water, sewer or education systems — being unable to support new growth.
“It used to be you would hear that council members have too much authority on land use decisions,” Patoka said earlier this year. “Now it has swung back to ‘there’s not enough authority.’”
The county recently ended a yearlong zoning overhaul that resulted in the “downzoning” of hundreds of parcels, a divisive process known as Comprehensive Zoning Map Process. Some neighbors advocated heavily against adding new development — and more potential housing — in their communities.
Dan Reed, regional policy director at Greater Greater Washington — a news and advocacy organization — said the state could do more to sanction those who don’t comply with its housing goals. It should be centered during next year’s General Assembly, Reed said.
“We should be holding local jurisdictions accountable,” Reed said, which could include tying funding awards to a county’s progress meeting housing goals.
Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, a second-term Democrat and self-proclaimed YIMBY, said his own success at passing a pro-housing agenda has taught him to map a narrow course to victory.
“The YIMBYs have to be smart and not take away protections communities have spent decades creating for quality of life,” Pittman said in an interview earlier this year. “And communities have to understand our economy depends on people having access to housing at various price points. Otherwise our businesses will fail.”
Pittman, who began his career as a community organizer in the Midwest, said the YIMBY agenda has shifted considerably from his early career. Pro-housing advocates went from pushing banks and developers to invest in low-income areas to leveling with communities about the very real need for housing affordability where they live.
Under Pittman, Anne Arundel is undergoing a development wave that could usher in community amenities and hundreds of new homes over time. For now, Pittman remains unapologetic about that.
“As people struggle with affordability, and if people know someone in the family who is struggling, they start to realize we can’t put obstacles in the way,” he said. “There is a path based on politics and economic need. I’m optimistic based on where we’re heading.”
