An Empirical Investigation into the Role of NIMBYism in the Lack of Affordable Housing in California Cities

• In Event: Poverty and Public Policy

Abstract

There are counties in all states in the US where more than 30 percent of the households spend more than 30 percent of their household income on shelter. This lack of housing affordability burdens the economic vitality and mobility of households and represents a potential social safety net hindered by actions preventable by local governments. To better under these actions and their magnitudes, we offer evidence on whether identified characteristics of city residents and institutions associated with NIMBYism (Not in My Backyard) deter the construction of affordable housing. To do this, we employ data from California's Fifth Regional Housing Needs Allocation Cycle (2015-2023) that contains the number of housing units permitted in nearly 500 California cities affordable to different household income types and gather resident and institutional characteristics associated with NIMBYism from those cities. Using negative binomial regression analysis, we find that increases in the percentage of residents over age 55, the percentage of residents in the city before the year 2000, and the number of days of non-approval for the city's general plan related to the availability of land for the construction of various levels of affordable housing (Housing Element) during the period under investigation, all resulted in fewer building permits across housing types. Increases in the percentage of owner-occupied homes and the rate of homes occupied correlate with more building permits issued. These results offer clear evidence that some of the resident characteristics and local institutions associated with NIMBYism have influenced the number of new housing permits issued.

Author

• Rob Wassmer, California State University, Sacramento