How we endorse.

Local and state officials hold the keys to housing and zoning reform, so electing people who will say yes to homes is a core part of YIMBY Action's mission. Our chapters endorse candidates for public office, ballot measures, and legislation that advance that mission.

Endorsements carry weight only if the process behind them is consistent and open. The rules below apply to every YIMBY Action chapter, in every election. When a chapter endorses, this is how it got there.

Who decides

YIMBY Action members decide every endorsement. Staff do not choose endorsements, and neither does the board. Membership is open to anyone: dues are $5 a month or $35 a year, pay what you can, and volunteer time counts too.

To vote on an endorsement, a member must have joined at least 30 days before the vote. That waiting period keeps a campaign from signing up supporters the week of a ballot to tip the result.

The process itself is run by chapter leads: volunteers who organize their local chapter. YIMBY Action staff support them, but the research, the recommendation, and the vote all happen locally.

From questionnaire to ballot

Every candidate in a race gets the same questionnaire, the same deadline, and the same chance to make their case. Candidates usually have one to two weeks to respond, and chapters send reminders. Responses go to every member eligible to vote, so members read the candidates' own words, not a summary.

Chapter leads then meet to review the responses and recommend a position on each race or measure. The bar is deliberately higher than a simple majority:

• At least 60 percent of leads must support a candidate for the leads to recommend them. We want more than a bare majority of leads behind an endorsement before it goes to members.
• In a crowded race, leads may use ranked-choice voting to find the candidate with the broadest support, then confirm that candidate clears the 60 percent bar.
• “No endorsement” is always an option. A race can end without one, and a candidate has to beat that option, not just the other candidates.
• The recommendation is written down: name, seat, and a rationale for each recommended candidate or measure that members can read before they vote.

The members' vote

• Every eligible member receives a ballot, along with the leads' recommendations and rationale, and has at least 72 hours to vote. Chapters may also hold an in-person voting session.
• A majority of votes cast makes the endorsement, unless the chapter set a higher bar before voting opened.
• In some races members rank their choices, so the chapter can name a first and a second choice.
• If a vote ties, the leads' recommendation prevails.
• Results are announced to members as soon as the vote closes.

Every endorsement is public

An endorsement is a public statement of support for a candidate and their platform. We announce every endorsement we make, and we never make a quiet one.

Candidates sometimes ask to be endorsed privately, to be counted as pro-housing without saying so on the campaign trail. We decline. A candidate who will not publicly commit to our platform during the campaign is unlikely to vote for it in office, when the pressure is greater. Public endorsements also let voters hold the people we endorsed to account for how they govern.

Each endorsement is published with a short written rationale explaining why members supported it. You can find every current and past endorsement on our endorsements page.

What we take positions on, and what we don't

YIMBY Action exists to make housing abundant. Our chapters endorse on housing and land use, and only on housing and land use.

• Candidates for offices with real power over housing and zoning: city councils, county boards, planning and regional bodies, state legislatures, and Congress. We generally do not endorse for offices with little bearing on housing, such as school boards or judgeships.
• Ballot measures that affect housing or land use, including transit and infrastructure measures that shape where homes can go.
• Legislation that fits one of our five policy pillars: legalize housing, fund affordable housing, increase housing stability, streamline permitting, and fix broken incentives.

Issues outside housing and land use, however important, are not ours to endorse on. When members care about a cause beyond our mission, we point them to the organizations working on it rather than take a position in YIMBY Action's name.

Speaking with one voice

• No two YIMBY Action chapters may take different positions on the same race or measure. When a district spans several chapters, those chapters run one shared endorsement process.
• Statewide legislation is led by YIMBY Action nationally, with chapters adding their support.
• For state-level candidates in California, YIMBY Action runs a single statewide process that every chapter can take part in. Elsewhere, the chapter starting a process invites the other chapters in its state to join it.
• Chapters take positions on local legislation themselves, within the five pillars.

Early endorsements

Occasionally a chapter endorses before running the full questionnaire process, most often for a strong pro-housing incumbent who is likely to win, or for a candidate who has been active in the chapter and is running in an open field.

Early endorsements are the exception, and they come with stricter rules:

• They are reserved for races where the chapter is confident no other viable pro-housing candidate will enter. If that is in doubt, the chapter waits, so it does not discourage another good candidate from running.
• Chapter leads make the decision and are accountable for it. Because an early endorsement skips the membership vote, leads must be able to defend it openly to members and to the public.
• If a chapter would need a vote to bring members along, that is a sign the race deserves the full process instead.

Independence from campaigns

YIMBY Action does not give money, staff time, member lists, or other resources to candidates, campaigns, or political parties. Our endorsement is a statement of support and a call to our members, not a contribution.

Chapter leads are volunteers, and like anyone they may volunteer for a campaign on their own time. When they do, they act as individuals: they may not hand a campaign YIMBY Action's tools or contact lists, and they may not speak for the organization. With their fellow leads' agreement, leads may invite members to a campaign's events or share its volunteer opportunities.

Rescinding an endorsement

An endorsement can be withdrawn, but only as a last resort, because doing so has public consequences for the chapter and the candidate.

What can lead to rescinding

• Illegal activity or corruption
• New anti-housing positions or actions
• New anti-democratic positions or actions
• Bigotry or discrimination

Personal conduct that is legal, however objectionable, is not on its own grounds for rescinding.

How it happens

1. The chapter's leads gather input from local members, then submit a written request to YIMBY Action with evidence of the conduct.
2. YIMBY Action's board votes on whether to rescind. Chapter leads cannot rescind an endorsement themselves, because the endorsement was made by a vote of the membership, not by the leads.
3. In especially serious cases, the board may act without waiting for a request from the chapter.