About
Vision
JP YIMBY believes in a future where zoning and public policy foster, rather than block, the creation of new housing that’s affordable, inclusive, and abundant and makes housing accessible to everyone in Jamaica Plain.
Mission
JP YIMBY is a group of neighbors working to make housing more affordable and accessible in Jamaica Plain and beyond. We recognize that decades of exclusionary practices -- including zoning, redlining, banking, real estate, and more -- have led to a reality in which very few can afford to stay in, or move to, this neighborhood. We believe that everyone deserves a safe, dignified home, whether they are currently unhoused, rent-burdened, or simply seeking to stay in the community they love. We advocate for a future where multifamily housing is legal to build by right, without unnecessary delays or prohibitive zoning barriers. Our work is grounded in the understanding that the housing crisis intersects with racial justice, climate resilience, and economic equity. Through community organizing, advocacy, and coalition-building, we push for real solutions to create abundant, inclusive housing in livable, thriving neighborhoods.
Problem Statement
Boston’s economy is booming, fueled by technology, medicine, education, and life sciences, but our housing system is failing. Decades of restrictive zoning, limited new construction, and aging housing stock have left the city with a severe housing shortage. As demand has surged and policy fails to keep pace, prices are skyrocketing for both home sales and rentals , and working people are increasingly priced out, pushed out, or left out entirely.
This shortage affects everyone:
This shortage affects everyone:
- Nearly half of renter households in greater Boston are cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income on housing.1
- People are doubling up, commuting for hours, or living in substandard conditions because they have no other options.
- People are squeezed out entirely, making city government harder, and culture and vibrancy erode as housing becomes a luxury instead of a basic human need.
- Families are priced out of the city, reducing the number of kids in the school system. BPS goes through round after round of school closures as the student population shrinks.
- City workers and nonprofit professionals struggle to afford homes in the city they work in. They leave or don’t move here in the first place.
- With few or no cheap apartments, people who want to pursue careers in the creative arts have nowhere to live.
- Would-be entrepreneurs are unable to take risks on new businesses.2
- Homelessness increases, as housing costs are the primary driver of increasing homelessness.3
Why is this happening? It’s simple: we’ve made it nearly impossible to build the homes people need.
Boston’s zoning code is outdated and exclusionary. In most neighborhoods, even modest housing proposals require lengthy, expensive, uncertain approval processes. Developers must navigate a maze of public meetings, various boards for approvals, and shifting political dynamics, often just to build what already exists next door. Attempting the process at all is risky, creating a strong barrier against new projects. Some projects go through the entire process, only to find out at the end that the plan is rejected. Other projects are approved, but after such a long delay, finances have fallen through.
Even worse, many neighborhoods are zoned so tightly that they don’t allow for any population growth, and, in fact, wouldn't even allow the housing already built there a century ago. This artificial scarcity drives up costs and restricts who can live where.
The result? Scarcity turns the ordinary into a luxury.4 Substandard triple-decker apartments rent for luxury prices. Families are squeezed out. Some are pushed into homelessness. The social and economic impacts are staggering.
Boston’s zoning code is outdated and exclusionary. In most neighborhoods, even modest housing proposals require lengthy, expensive, uncertain approval processes. Developers must navigate a maze of public meetings, various boards for approvals, and shifting political dynamics, often just to build what already exists next door. Attempting the process at all is risky, creating a strong barrier against new projects. Some projects go through the entire process, only to find out at the end that the plan is rejected. Other projects are approved, but after such a long delay, finances have fallen through.
Even worse, many neighborhoods are zoned so tightly that they don’t allow for any population growth, and, in fact, wouldn't even allow the housing already built there a century ago. This artificial scarcity drives up costs and restricts who can live where.
The result? Scarcity turns the ordinary into a luxury.4 Substandard triple-decker apartments rent for luxury prices. Families are squeezed out. Some are pushed into homelessness. The social and economic impacts are staggering.
Our Solution
JP YIMBY envisions a vibrant Boston with thriving, diverse neighborhoods, where everyone can afford to live near jobs, schools, transit, and community. To achieve this vision, there are clear steps we must take:
- Legalize abundant housing: Update zoning to allow as-of-right construction of sufficient housing for the city’s current and future population
- Foster integration: Use tools like density bonuses and public funding to support mixed-income housing across all neighborhoods
Footnotes
1. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/pdf/BostonMA-CHMA-24.pdf Also just a generally useful source for housing market data about Boston and surroundings.
2. During the Cold War, the West German government cared a lot for geopolitical reasons about maintaining a strong presence in West Berlin, but West Berlin was actually a pretty inconvenient place to live because it was surrounded by East Germany and reachable only by extended train trip. The West Germans dealt with this by pretty heavily subsidizing living in West Berlin, which made it a major hub for people who wanted to make weird art, creating a thriving creative world that resulted in stuff like David Bowie’s Berlin albums.
3. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/08/22/how-housing-costs-drive-levels-of-homelessness
4. When Paris was besieged and cut off from food supplies in the Franco-Prussian war, it’s actually not quite right to say that the citizens ate rats to survive; for the most part, only the rich ate rats. Rats were a luxury good. In Boston, it’s not right to say that people live in two bedroom condos in 120 year old buildings; well-off people live in two bedroom condos in 120 year old buildings, because those are a luxury good. While we're all grateful to have it much better than the besieged Parisians, the German army isn’t here imposing this scarcity on us; we’re doing it to ourselves.
2. During the Cold War, the West German government cared a lot for geopolitical reasons about maintaining a strong presence in West Berlin, but West Berlin was actually a pretty inconvenient place to live because it was surrounded by East Germany and reachable only by extended train trip. The West Germans dealt with this by pretty heavily subsidizing living in West Berlin, which made it a major hub for people who wanted to make weird art, creating a thriving creative world that resulted in stuff like David Bowie’s Berlin albums.
3. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/08/22/how-housing-costs-drive-levels-of-homelessness
4. When Paris was besieged and cut off from food supplies in the Franco-Prussian war, it’s actually not quite right to say that the citizens ate rats to survive; for the most part, only the rich ate rats. Rats were a luxury good. In Boston, it’s not right to say that people live in two bedroom condos in 120 year old buildings; well-off people live in two bedroom condos in 120 year old buildings, because those are a luxury good. While we're all grateful to have it much better than the besieged Parisians, the German army isn’t here imposing this scarcity on us; we’re doing it to ourselves.