The rise of the YIMBY: Americans struggling to find cheap housing form pro-development groups to infiltrate public meetings and vote yes to new high-rises

Young Americans in Massachusetts struggling to find affordable housing are joining pro-development groups and infiltrating public meetings to vote for new high-rises.

Cobi Frongillo, a Franklin city council member, regularly witnesses community opposition to proposed housing projects due to the size of the building and concerns about parking.

But the 25-year-old can only afford to live in the city by renting his parents’ backyard cottage and insists few people his age have been able to stay in the area where they grew up.

He has joined a group of other residents to form a rare pro-housing group called Building Equitable Neighborhoods, which has about 35 members.

“I can’t afford to buy into the community I love, and that is fundamentally a major problem for the future of this city,” Frongillo told the newspaper. Boston sphere.

Frongillo and the advocacy group attend public meetings where they vote in favor of new housing projects.

“Young people can no longer live here because we simply don’t have housing,” he said.

There are now dozens of new local pro-housing groups in Eastern Massachusetts and they are making their presence felt in communities like Norwood and Rockport.

It has been fueled by the MBTA Community Act, which requires cities and towns with public transportation to make it easier to build family homes.

Pro-housing groups are asking local officials to be bolder with new zoning rules and will advocate for other policies if they are passed.

The groups are usually formed after younger residents are shocked by the push for new housing during community meetings of older, wealthier homeowners.

Researcher Katherine Einstein of Boston University said that advocacy groups can ultimately have a lot of influence.

Frongillo, a Franklin city council member, regularly witnesses community opposition to proposed housing projects due to building size and parking concerns.

She said, “This is the most organized pro-housing movement in Massachusetts ever. They are making great strides at a local level.’

The movement has spread across the US and led to zoning changes in states such as Montana and Oregon.

Frongillo said membership in the group is open to all demographics, even though the group is led by younger residents.

They want affordable housing to be built in the community as production has stagnated and new development plans are regularly criticized.

The average price for a single-family home in Franklin is $660,000 and the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is almost $2,100.

A similar group was founded in Cambridge in 2012 when a group of locals in their 20s founded A Better Cambridge.

They first met in bars and apartments to work on their plan and successfully fought against a budget cut proposal.

But the 25-year-old can only afford to live in the city by renting his parents’ backyard cottage and insists few people his age have been able to stay in the area where they grew up.

Jesse Kanson-Benanav, the group’s first executive director, left to found the statewide housing organization Abundant Housing Massachusetts.

“State policy reform is critical, but it’s really important that we do things in the context of Massachusetts,” he said.

“We’ve been doing local housing here for a long time, and as long as that’s the case, we have to comply with the system that it stands for.”

Waltham Inclusive Neighborhoods was formed after residents in the area became frustrated with a lack of speed with MBTA Communities’ housing plan.

The city has welcomed 10,000 new jobs in the past decade, but has only built 1,600 homes.

“That is the driving force behind the housing crisis,” said one of the group’s leaders, Tom Benavides (25).

“The fact that we are willing to build commercial development for workers and unwilling to accommodate them blinds our own eyes.”

Frongillo and the advocacy group attend public meetings where they vote in favor of new housing projects

Waltham Inclusive Neighborhoods wants to get local officials to propose zoning changes that work with MBTA communities and provide space for nearly 4,000 homes.

While in Norwood, the pro-housing group Norwood for All held an education campaign to combat misinformation before a spring meeting.

It approved the city’s plan to rezone land to make way for 2,000 units.