October 23, 2026
YIMBYillionaires—EXPOSED!
The YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) movement has exploded on the Democratic political scene in California and across the country with a seductively simple proposition: if we get rid of regulations, slash taxes and fees regardless of what they support, and give for-profit developers free rein, they will solve the housing crisis.
Our coalition supports more housing at every level. We’ve fought hard for smart measures to increase supply (2016’s Prop JJJ, which created the highly successful TOC program) and we’ve opposed policy that would limit it (2017’s Measure S)—even partnering, on the latter, with local YIMBY groups.
But the reality is a lot more complicated than the state- and nation-wide YIMBY movement claims—and its motivations are a lot less noble.
The scholarship says market-rate does not meet the need
As scholarly attention continues to demonstrate, simply building market-rate housing is not sufficient to address the housing crisis, and when displacement is not prevented when market-rate housing is built, it can make matters worse. Letting developers and corporate donors drive the housing sector unchecked is not a good solution.
Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty’s Zachary McRae, Shamaal Sheppard, and Adit Roy found in their study Abundance for Who?: Housing access and affordability in high-growth metropolitan areas, that, “Despite year-to-year fluctuations, rent growth for lower-income renters outpaced their higher-income counterparts in most of the High-Growth Metros. As these areas added new supply, the uneven impacts of rent growth were felt most by people with the fewest resources.” Conversations about the need for expanding housing supply must clarify where the impact will be greatest. Expanding affordable housing must be prioritized in order to address the housing needs of those most impacted by high rents and most likely to become unhoused otherwise.
When YIMBYs and real estate interests talk about “building more housing,” generally they mean “market-rate housing,” even though they make it sound like they’re talking about “affordable housing.” As the Georgetown report and studies by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco show, building market-rate housing does not meet the needs of the most vulnerable people. Without proper protections and sufficient new affordable housing—like the kind ULA supports—market-rate housing can contribute to rising rents for vulnerable households, leading to displacement and homelessness.
With so much attention paid to the market-rate housing supply, you might not know that Los Angeles is much closer to achieving our state-mandated commitments for building market-rate housing than to achieving our targets for the affordable housing we need. If instead, we prioritize expanding truly affordable housing at a scale that ULA-funding makes possible, we will not only ultimately see more Angelenos living in housing they can afford, but we might also see market rate rents come down as well.
YIMBY backers don’t need help with the rent
The largest financial boosters of CA YIMBY (and its new rebrand as the Abundance Network) are Silicon Valley billionaires. The American Prospect has discovered new documents that connect a number of the wealthiest figures in tech with Abundance. Dylan Gyauch-Lewis writes that the movement boasts “a $120 million annual commitment from ex-hedge fund manager and current Meta board member John Arnold, $40 million from Facebook/Meta co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, and $100 million from Steve Ballmer.” Big Tech sees market-rate and luxury housing development as core to expanding its growth and its profits.
Indeed, the YIMBY movement sits at the convergence of two sectors dominated by billionaires: Big Real Estate and Big Tech. They benefit from the funding and political backing from tech and real estate billionaires who share an agenda to expand market-rate housing built by for-profit developers. Unfortunately, this agenda has not been devised to support the millions of people who struggle deeply to pay the rent each month.
What are the values behind this movement? One of the Abundance Network’s chief concerns is “rebellion against elites” which they believe has resulted in “elite abdication in Democratic politics.” Essentially, members of the Abundance Network believe that corporations and oligarchs should have more power in the Democratic Party, and communities, organizers, and unions should have less. Billionaires are using the YIMBY banner to seize control of Democratic politics while padding their profits through the real estate market.
Let’s see clearly through the monied interests behind the YIMBY movement and stay focused on what we know works: protecting renters, preventing displacement and homelessness, and growing the supply of affordable housing.
Read more about the YIMBYillionaires at The American Prospect.
Stop Prop 43
Let’s make sure other cities can pass transfer taxes
There’s another fight coming this November. We need to beat a ballot measure that would stop LA and other California cities from passing new local public revenue measures. This includes making it harder to pass new transfer taxes anywhere in the state, whether that’s a version of Measure ULA or another program to generate important revenue.
Proposition 43 would raise the threshold needed to pass new local revenue measures from a simple majority to a supermajority. This would give one-third of the electorate veto power over a vital tool in the fight for affordable housing and other public goods, while consolidating power for corporate interests.
This ballot measure is so unpopular that even the lawmakers who crafted it as a last-minute compromise have come out against it. But, with nowhere else to set their sights, the real estate lobby and anti-tax crusaders will be throwing money at Prop 43. It is essential that we beat it at the ballot box.
If you’d like to help fight back against Prop 43, sign up at the website or write back to this newsletter for volunteer opportunities.
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