The Activist Group Suing the Suburbs for Bigger Buildings
A pro-development group in San Francisco at the forefront of the YIMBY movement (Yes In My Backyard) has a novel legal strategy to increase the local housing stock.
Castro Street in San Francisco, Calif.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
In a speech last month, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman blamed zoning restrictions—local land-use rules governing things like how tall buildings can grow—for the lack of affordable housing, lost economic productivity, and rising inequality across the U.S.
On Tuesday, a San Francisco activist named Sonja Trauss took Furman's argument to the streets, filing a lawsuit in Contra Costa County (Calif.) to fight what she sees as a lost opportunity to build more housing.