Senator Todd Young (R-IN) and Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA) introduced the bipartisan “Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) Act” (S.1688/H.R.3507) in Congress on May 18. The bill would increase transparency and encourage localities to build more affordable housing by requiring Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) recipients to report on and make plans to track discriminatory land-use policies. NLIHC supports the legislation and urges Congress to enact the bill along with investments in affordable housing that would make housing affordable to the lowest-income families.
The “YIMBY Act” would encourage the implementation of 22 anti-discriminatory land-use policies to facilitate creation of new affordable housing in more communities. The legislation encourages pro-housing policies, such as re-zoning areas for high-density housing, allowing single-room occupancy development wherever multifamily housing is allowed, reducing minimum-lot-size requirements, allowing accessory dwelling units, and allowing the conversion of office units to apartments, among other provisions. The bill would require CDBG grantees to submit a report every five years addressing (1) whether they have adopted any anti-discriminatory land-use policies, (2) their plans to implement such policies; and (3) the ways in which adopting such policies would benefit their localities. These reports would not impact the amount of funds received by grantees.
The bill was first introduced on June 20, 2019 (see Memo, 07/01/2019), and passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020 (see Memo, 03/09/2020).
Read Senator Young’s press release on the bill at: https://tinyurl.com/yf8vf3pr
Read legislative text and see a list of cosponsors of the House version of the bill at: https://tinyurl.com/2ffpc6c7
Read legislative text and see a list of cosponsors of the Senate version of the bill at: https://tinyurl.com/59a4aa5t