It’s no secret that access to affordable housing in America is increasingly out of reach. Activists in the growing YIMBY (“Yes In My Back Yard”) movement believe they have a solution: build more of everything. 

On this episode, associate editor Griffin Oleynick speaks with Max Holleran, a sociologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia and author of Yes to the City: Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing, a detailed study of the YIMBYs. 

The YIMBYs’ push for new construction, Holleran argues, won’t entirely solve the problem of housing affordability. To do that, we must not only re-invest in alternatives like community land trusts, but also continue fighting for higher wages and greater income equality.

For further reading: 

• “Making the Rent,” The Editors
• “The Bay Area’s Infinite Loop,” Kaya Oakes
• “Poverty and Profit in the American City,” Frank Pasquale