We believe in an open toolbox . Our affordable housing crisis affects many different kinds of people in many different ways. It would be impossible to fix our problems with any single policy. Policymakers must have an open mind about significant reforms that work best in conjunction with each other.

So while YIMBYs may have diverse, wide ranging politics and ideological views, our advocacy is guided by a core set of five solutions that we work towards.

For decades, the City of Tampa has been restricting the types of homes that are legal be build. Today, many of this most affordable homes in our best historic neighborhoods, like Hyde Park, Davis Island, Tampa Heights, and Ybor, are illegal to build . This includes most forms of Missing Middle housing types, like duplexes, triplexes, garden apartments, and more, which make up the character of our most cherished communities. Restrictions in our Comprehensive Plan and Zoning code have effectively banned neighborhood scale, affordable multifamily housing from more than 70% of the city of Tampa.

Excluding these types of residences keeps neighborhoods homogeneous and makes housing more expensive. YIMBYs advocate for the end of this ban on apartments and other kinds of housing; we want to end exclusionary zoning .

Most housing in the United States is “market-rate”. People or companies that own homes rent or sell them at a price where they can find a buyer.

Even if housing becomes less expensive on the open market, there will always be people who can’t find housing at a price they can afford . Traditionally, public funding helps provide housing for people with very low incomes. Funding for this kind of housing currently falls far short of what is needed. YIMBYs believe that we must increase funding for income-qualified housing at all levels of government. Funding affordable housing is critical to create a future of abundant, affordable housing for all .

Neighbors make neighborhood character . We have a responsibility to keep communities stable as they grow.

Past policy changes intended to address housing needs often had severe consequences for communities that were already vulnerable. As we advocate for more housing, we advocate strongly for laws that protect tenants and policies that protect vulnerable communities .

Even where housing is technically allowed, complicated and arbitrary permitting can slow, shrink, or stop housing in practice. Complicated permitting creates opportunities for corruption to flourish and makes building housing take much longer . It further drives up the cost of new housing .

Improving permitting is especially important in exclusionary neighborhoods. In those neighborhoods, wealthy homeowners often use complicated permitting rules to block new housing in their neighborhoods.

Developers respond to incentives. In Tampa, our policies around transportation are a key barrier to more housing in the places that we need it most. Because we have not expanded access to transit, growth tends to be car-oriented—even in our urban core—, which raises the cost of housing, and exacerbates the fact that Tampa is the most expensive metro area in the country for transportation .

Incentives for building around transportation and other forms of infrastructure are a critical component to lowering barriers to more housing, and reducing the cost of living for people in our community.