We're YIMBY Action.

We empower community stakeholders to advocate for affordable and market rate housing, with the goal of bringing down the cost of housing in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

We believe many of our current policies have far reaching unintended negative consequences, often falling most heavily on the Bay Area’s vulnerable populations, increasing homelessness and displacement while driving up the cost of living for everyone.

Increasing the Bay Area housing stock will have a long-term positive impact, improving our community’s economic and social well-being while reducing our environmental footprint.

Our Methodology

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Direct Engagement

We connect community members with their neighbors, advocating for growth at the grassroots level.

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Political Activism

We use and distribute political tools to change the political landscape, in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere.

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Education

We work to educate all citizens on how we got here and how policy change will get us out of the current housing crisis.

Board of Directors

Tim Colen

Former Executive Director of San Francisco Housing Action Coalition (SFHAC)

Vincent Woo

CEO of CoderPad, Consistent Volunteer & Fundraiser for YIMBY

Laura Fingal-Surma

Small Project Developer, Noe Valley Homeowner, Passionate Urbanist

Jane Natoli

LGBTQ+ Advocate, Bike champion, Grow the Richmond organizer

Staff

Laura Foote

Executive Director

More Mission

Supporting Smart Growth

By 2020, the San Francisco Bay Area will need to house over 920,000 people. We are not ready. Current policies have created an extreme shortage in available housing, leading to skyrocketing housing prices. San Francisco needs to address this crisis by building more housing.

We help stakeholders get directly involved to help grow their neighborhood. Our engagement toolkit empowers all stakeholders to let their voices be heard. YIMBY Action brings communities together in dialogue about individual projects and their impact on the overall housing market. We give all stakeholders the ability to effectively support smart growth in the Bay Area.

We work to connect people with the resources needed to increase the housing stock. Focusing on potential housing of 10 units or smaller, we work to build bridges between constituencies and advocate for sensible projects throughout the Bay Area. While larger units are part of the solution, we know that every potential home is important to solving this crisis.

While direct activism is vital, the Bay Area also needs policy changes to bring down the cost of housing. YIMBY Action is a strong proponent of pro-growth policies. We support candidates and policies that address the current housing crisis. YIMBY Action rallies stakeholders and politicians to address current regulatory issues that exist today.

To illustrate the effects of current policies and the power of civic engagement, we follow up to ten current housing projects. These Case Studies illustrate the current housing crisis and the difficulties facing anyone working to increase the housing stock in San Francisco. Profiling these housing opportunities will put a face on projects ranging from small in-law units to 100+ unit buildings, examining the arguments for and against these opportunities to grow in the context of our current housing shortage.

Advocating for Vulnerable Populations

Increasing the housing stock is fundamental to bringing down the cost of housing at all income levels. But this is not enough to address the current crisis. Too many of San Francisco’s most vulnerable are being squeezed and pushed out of our city.

YIMBY Action partners with organizations directly supporting people at-risk and experiencing homelessness, evictions and difficulties paying rent. As a vital part of our constituency, we know that the crisis is falling hardest on this diverse population. With direct engagement, YIMBY Action enables stakeholders to get involved and support the creation of affordable and mixed income housing throughout the Bay Area.

In addition to on-the-ground activism, YIMBY Action advocates for policy changes to increase the amount of affordable housing. YIMBY Action pushes for policies to increase the housing stock at every income level, and believes affordable housing needs to be a part of every large development project.

Too often those afraid of growth ask the question, “what kind of people will we be letting into our neighborhood?” YIMBY Action puts a face to these potential residents.