NIMBY Cities Are Using Your Tax Dollars To Lobby Against New Housing

Every state in the nation except Hawaii has a league of cities and towns that exist to lobby states to allow municipalities to tax and regulate as they wish. This has become a core cause of the housing crisis because these leagues—especially in the West, where many moved during the pandemic—stymie states’ efforts to loosen zoning laws and spur housing construction in order to promulgate supply, which will soften prices. It’s particularly problematic because these groups use public funding and lobby on behalf of local governments and not citizens, furthering their mission of bigger government and more regulations—often in direct opposition to their real constituents, taxpayers. And it’s not a partisan issue: Left-leaning housing advocates to right-leaning property rights champions are backing legislation to loosen up restrictions on zoning and building. But the fight to defund them has stalled in state legislatures.

Source: https://reason.com/2023/06/01/nimby-cities-are-using-your-tax-dollars-to-lobby-against-new-housing/