LIE #1: FLOODING THE SUPPLY OF MARKET RATE AND LUXURY HOUSING PUSHES COSTS DOWN FOR EVERYONE. When it comes to housing, over the last decade California has practiced a warped version of trickle down economics. Some 400 new laws have all but destroyed local governments’ ability to control development and zoning. The political establishment and their special interest benefactors claim that unleashing hundreds of thousands, and eventually millions, of new market rate and luxury multifamily housing units will, somehow, magically, push down living costs for everyone. Since they can’t call it trickle down economics – that would be political suicide – they’ve come up with another euphemism. They call it “filtering.”

REALITY: Housing is not fungible. Fungible refers to an item that can be easily replaced with another, similar item. The classic example is Coke and Pepsi. Housing is not interchangeable because different houses, townhouses, condos, apartments, co-ops, mobile homes, and shared living spaces have different features, including location, size, number of rooms, age, build quality, features, fixtures, outdoor space, views, noise levels, overall physical condition, and, of course, price. People searching for affordable housing aren’t affected by new supply in the luxury housing market, and vice versa. A young couple looking to buy their starter home are in a different market from tenants in rent-controlled apartments and older homeowners living in single family homes that are paid off. A middle aged working couple with two children looking for an affordable single family house in West Los Angeles is not competing with a tech billionaire looking for a second home just a couple miles away in Pacific Palisades. And so on.

That’s why flooding the supply of a single type of housing – higher end multifamily units in dense urban cores – does nothing to affect costs of any other type of housing, least of all desperately needed truly affordable housing for Californians farther down the economic ladder. It’s like arguing that building a million new Ferraris will push down the price of Hondas and Chevys.

There are more problems with the trickle down theory. The construction of a new luxury apartment or condo building in a middle or lower class community pushes real estate prices in the surrounding neighborhood up, not down. That’s because other developers see an opportunity to cash in with their own buildings. It creates a vicious cycle that enriches the already rich, at everyone else’s expense.

ONV supports policies that incentivize localities to build housing that fits their particular needs. Local officials know their communities far better than distant state bureaucrats, and state leaders should work with them, not on them, to spur housing accessible to Californians at all income levels.

LIE #3: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS HINDER BADLY NEEDED NEW HOUSING CONSTRUCTION. Among California’s political establishment it has become conventional wisdom that city councils, boards of supervisors, and local planning commissions are the biggest hindrances to new housing construction. The theory is that they are  determined to prevent new people, especially lower income people, from moving in.

REALITY: Local electeds care most about the future of the communities they represent, with economic – and therefore population – growth at the core of that concern. No one gets elected to their city council by promising to stymie economic growth and new jobs. It’s a smear the YIMBYs and the establishment use to attack local authority and democracy. It’s demonstrably false – just ask your own city councilmember or supervisor.

LIE #5: “YIMBYs” CARE ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING, LIVABLE COMMUNITIES, AND HARDWORKING CALIFORNIANS. On their website, the YIMBYs piously proclaim that their mission is “to make California an affordable place to live, work, and raise a family.” Their website and social media are filled with references to “equity,” “inclusion,” and “empowerment.” They’d have you believe they’re a scrappy group of grassroots activists fighting the powers that be on behalf of average folks and, especially, the marginalized.

REALITY: We have to hand it to the corporate-backed YIMBYs: They got away with it for a long time. It’s been one of the most successful political snow-jobs in California history. With the full backing of the state’s corporate, tech, and political class they’ve smeared anyone who so much as raises a question about their intentions.

However, now that they’re embedded in California’s political establishment, they’ve started dropping the act. Most tellingly, in several cities nationwide they’ve launched an AI assisted platform called YIMBY+ to assist real estate speculators. For example, the New York YIMBY website declares, “With YIMBY+, you can navigate the real estate landscape in the New York metro area like never before. YIMBY+ combines the rich dataset of New York YIMBY with Rebar Radar’s advanced digital twin technology stack, offering an immersive 3D experience and a wealth of real-time information at your fingertips. Experience a unique set of comprehensive data layers exclusive to YIMBY’s extensive knowledge base. YIMBY+ provides constantly updating, highly detailed information on everything from construction updates to permit statuses, and much more.” Well, then. So much for those affordable communities.

The YIMBY+ “Enterprise” package starts at $2,000 a year. Any questions? Anyone still believe the YIMBYs give a fraction of a flip about housing affordability and struggling working Americans? No — the YIMBYs are about the almighty dollar. They are rapacious capitalists masquerading as crusading reformers. They’re Daniel Plainview disguised as Jefferson Smith.