This Is Why I Believe We're Making Real Progress on Homelessness

Issue 59

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The homelessness issue, which is really a shortage of housing issue, has been an incredibly dense, entrenched one forever and more so in the last ten years. Or twenty? There has been so much research and so much history and so much politicking for decades on end that today, fellow conscious politics practitioner, I hope you’ll indulge a very basic overview, my personal take — also known as opinion — on what it all looks like today from something of a remove and through my very own conscious politics lens. Because I’m happy to report, it looks promising.

Part One: NIMBYism.

As a resident of and/or voter in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, it has been baffling to have been living amongst majorities of socially liberal if not very politically liberal people who vote time and again for “the measures” to fund and build new housing or otherwise address the homelessness issue. The cities are often, if not always, administered by socially liberal if not very politically liberal officeholders, but little to none of what passes ever seems to happen. It has gone on for so long that NIMBY - not in my back yard - is a thing worthy of an “ism.” It’s the idea that people who advocate for change have zero interest in seeing that change occur if it disrupts their own lives in any way.

NIMBYism is pretty much old consciousness all the way. It has been about effectively building walls to keep people out without actually building walls. It is steeped in notions of separation, ignoring our knowing that we are all connected. It features mostly minorities of White people who pass ordinances in their towns and cities large and small that perpetuate outdated racial and socioeconomic mores and practices as though it is 1920. It is about resisting change, which goes against the nature of Nature. It is me, not we, all day long. It is rooted in fear and, yes, it is disingenuous. (That again.) Emblematic of the old consciousness, it’s over.

Part Two: YIMBYism, but not the good kind.

YIMBY - yes in my back yard - worthy of an “ism” because it is a formidable counter movement to NIMBYism, is all about building more housing. It is not monolithic, though, and this brand of YIMBYism is a perfect example of a movement caught in the middle of two consciousnesses. It — the professional developer class and all who are part of it — may or may not give a shit compassion-wise about creating housing for people who don’t currently have it or otherwise contributing to a society that works for everyone, but let’s say they do. They ostensibly are doing a good, new-consciousness thing but, bless their hearts, they are incapable of looking at their work through anything other than a profit lens. They negotiate tax and other incentives in exchange for promises to set aside a small percentage of their rental units as “affordable,” all the while literally creating separate entrances and exits and elevators and separate living experiences for those who inhabit the “affordable” units and who report feeling like second class citizens in their own homes. A business that talks in terms of new-paradigm goals but insists on old-paradigm finance models that position profit as paramount is one that wants to be the butterfly without ceasing to be the caterpillar. It just doesn’t work that way. The old consciousness is not meant to co-exist with the new and something, anything, that tries to be both, on purpose, cannot succeed. It cannot go anywhere. It cannot satisfy. Ever.

It’s about allowing and making room for change that is already occurring; it’s about interconnecting multiple stakeholders; it’s about making a valuable contribution to better stewardship of the planet.

Part Three: YIMBYism, the good kind.

The good kind of YIMBYism is, consciously speaking, rooted in compassion for people and compassion for the planet. It’s about allowing and making room for change that is already occurring; it’s about interconnecting multiple stakeholders; it’s about making a valuable contribution to better stewardship of the planet. We belong to the planet, not the planet to us. It doesn’t resist or fight anything. It accepts things as they are and goes from there. Be present. It works legislatively to create fairness, bypassing and overruling minorities of people who practice NIMBYism. And it’s winning!

In 2018, Minneapolis became the first major US city to end single-family zoning, a vestige of NIMBYism in more densely populated areas. In 2019, Oregon did the same, allowing for duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes to be built on parcels that were once reserved for single-family houses. CaliforniaYIMBY is only a few years old and is the largest YIMBY organization in America. With the signing by Governor Newsom of a number of bills over the last two to three years, CaliforniaYIMBY says, “We now have more tools in the toolkit to help cities overcome NIMBYism and allow the construction of more homes, while also ensuring that renters can remain secure in their homes and communities as they grow.” Their 2021 five-part policy framework includes: legalizing multi-family housing, protecting vulnerable tenants from displacement, making it faster, easier, and cheaper to build homes, providing more public funding for subsidized and social/public housing, and ensuring all Californians have secure housing during and after the pandemic.

This brand of YIMBYism feels very new-consciousness to me for all of the reasons I listed above and because of its ethos: “A community of neighbors who welcome more neighbors,” as CaliforniaYIMBY puts it. They value neighborliness and diversity and empowerment and are emblematic of the best of what YIMBYism is and could be. Does this get everyone off American streets today? Sadly, no. Other, more immediate services are quite obviously still necessary. But systemic changes are being enacted, momentum is building for more, and that portends sustained change in the long term, a critical piece of solving this issue for good.

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The law of attraction is always on. As such, if you care about this issue — and I dare say everyone should care about this issue — please invest a bit of your time and energy in this direction if it feels right for you to do so. Infuse this movement with some “thoughts and prayers.” You’re thinking and feeling something about it anyway and it’s always best practice, of course, to think and feel on purpose.