YIMBY Action's Gillian Pressman on Addressing America's Housing Crisis

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

26 May 2025

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“We’re in the business of making housing more affordable, and we recognize that the key lever is increasing housing supply,” says Gillian Pressman, Managing Director of YIMBY Action, a growing advocacy organization with 67 chapters across 27 states.

For Pressman, the housing crisis is personal. Growing up in New York City as the child of “starving artist types,” she witnessed firsthand how cities can function as engines of economic mobility. Her parents met when her mother, an actress working as a waitress, was featured in a news piece about people with two jobs, a rarity at the time, produced by her father. Both eventually built successful middle-class careers, with her mother becoming a lawyer and her father advancing in television production.

“This kind of opportunity wouldn’t be possible without cities that facilitate economic advancement, and unfortunately, such opportunities are becoming increasingly rare today,” she explains. “People in my parents’ situation are not necessarily able to move to New York or San Francisco and take advantage of all the opportunities these cities offer.”

After a career in nonprofit work focused on education, Pressman had a realization: “There’s only so much schools can do if there’s significant neighborhood instability. Children experiencing housing insecurity simply cannot learn effectively.” This insight led her to housing advocacy and eventually to YIMBY Action, where she’s been managing director for six years.

The YIMBY Theory of Change

YIMBY—which stands for “Yes In My Backyard” in contrast to NIMBY (“Not In My Backyard”)—focuses on increasing housing supply as the primary solution to affordability challenges. While other housing advocacy groups might emphasize rent control or vouchers, YIMBY Action remains neutral on those approaches, focusing instead on removing barriers to construction.

“We say to real estate professionals, ‘You have this reputation as the big bad developer, which seems odd to us, because you provide housing, and housing is essential,'” Pressman explains. “So thank you for building housing. We hope you get to build much more of it.”

The organization’s approach targets four key policy areas that restrict housing development:

1. Zoning Reform

“We need to legalize housing,” Pressman states directly. In many cities, zoning laws make it illegal to build housing in certain areas or restrict the types of housing that can be built. Single-family zoning, which prohibits apartments or multi-family housing, is particularly problematic.

“In many cities, substantial portions of land are reserved exclusively for single-family detached housing,” she explains. “YIMBYs support all types of homes, including single-family, but we can’t have ONLY single-family homes. We also need multifamily homes, including large and small apartment buildings, if we want to accommodate the diverse needs of a thriving community. Multifamily homes are also more environmentally efficient.”

YIMBY Action advocates for “missing middle housing,” duplexes, accessory dwelling units, and small apartment buildings up to six units, as well as larger developments where appropriate. “We need all these housing types,” Pressman emphasizes.

The restrictive zoning has troubling origins, she notes: “Many of America’s problems stem from racism, and zoning is no exception. Low-density zoning was instituted to exclude certain populations. This was deliberate in many communities, and while it continues to have racist effects, it now impacts virtually everyone.”

2. Streamlining the Permitting Process

Even when zoning allows housing, the permitting process often creates insurmountable barriers. “Developers frequently face excessive requirements and community processes to build housing,” Pressman explains.

Environmental reviews, historic preservation requirements, and other regulatory hurdles can delay or kill projects that align with existing zoning. “Environmental sustainability is important, but regulations have often become so excessive that they prevent multi-family housing development, housing that would actually be more environmentally beneficial than single-family homes.”

Community input processes can also be counterproductive. “The housing decision-making process should be community-wide but it almost never is; instead decisions are made by the neighbors nearest to the project. This creates an imbalanced process.” she explains. “The potential beneficiaries of new housing, by definition, don’t live there yet, so they remain unrepresented in these discussions.”

3. Affordable Housing Funding

YIMBY Action also advocates for better approaches to funding income-qualified housing. While inclusionary zoning ordinances, which require developers to include affordable units in market-rate projects, are common, Pressman notes they can be counterproductive if too aggressive.

“Some localities implement inclusionary ordinances that effectively tax market-rate housing to fund low-income housing. This approach limits overall housing production,” she explains.

She prefers density bonus policies: “When you require income-qualified housing as part of a project but allow for additional units in return, you create a win-win scenario. Developers can build income-qualified units alongside more market-rate housing, creating financial viability for both.”

4. Removing Counterproductive Requirements

Requirements like mandatory parking minimums can make housing development financially unfeasible. “When cities mandate excessive parking spaces per unit, developers must dedicate substantial land and resources to parking rather than housing units.”

Key Policy Initiatives

YIMBY Action is currently focused on several promising policy initiatives:

Single-Stair Legislation

In most countries, apartment buildings up to six stories can be built with a single staircase plus alternative means of egress for fire safety. However, U.S. building codes typically require two staircases for buildings above three stories.

“Small apartment buildings with two staircases lose valuable space that could otherwise accommodate more units or larger family-sized apartments,” Pressman explains. “The dual-staircase requirement often results in smaller units that can’t accommodate families seeking three-bedroom options.”

Single-stair legislation would align building codes with international standards, potentially enabling more family-sized apartments in multi-family buildings.

Commercial-to-Residential Conversion

Many commercial areas are exclusively zoned for retail or office use, preventing housing development even when storefronts or office buildings sit vacant.

“When a local business closes and the space sits empty—often in areas with good foot traffic and transit access that would be ideal for housing—current zoning frequently prohibits residential conversion,” Pressman notes.

YIMBY Action supports legislation to allow residential development in commercial zones, enabling the conversion of underutilized retail and office space into housing.

Eliminating Minimum Parking Requirements

Cities often require developers to include a minimum number of parking spaces per housing unit, regardless of market demand or proximity to transit. These requirements can make projects financially unfeasible or reduce the number of housing units that can be built.

“We’re not eliminating parking or preventing people from owning cars,” Pressman explains. “We’re advocating against excessive parking requirements that ultimately prevent housing development.”

The Filtering Effect: How Market-Rate Housing Helps Affordability

While YIMBY Action supports dedicated affordable housing, Pressman emphasizes that building any new housing, even luxury condos, helps improve affordability across the market through a process called “filtering.”

“When luxury housing becomes available, residents who can afford it move up from their current homes, creating vacancies in mid-tier housing. This creates a chain reaction where people at various income levels can move into better housing, ultimately creating availability at all levels.”

She compares it to “reverse musical chairs”: “Instead of removing chairs, what happens when you add chairs? Even if you add premium seating with limited access, that still frees up other seating options for everyone else.”

This isn’t just theory, she notes: “Data consistently shows that building more housing at any price point ultimately reduces rents across the market.”

A Call to Action for the Real Estate Industry

For real estate professionals, Pressman emphasizes that policy engagement isn’t optional: “If there are industry members who don’t care about policy, they should understand that policy certainly affects them. It’s unavoidable.”

YIMBY Action offers a business partnership program specifically designed for developers and other industry professionals. “Developers seeking community support for housing projects should contact us. We have established processes to mobilize community members who support housing development.”

The organization also seeks industry input on policy priorities: “We advocate for better policies, but the industry helps us identify specific barriers. Different localities have different policies, so we value collaborative policy development with industry partners.”

As housing affordability challenges spread from major coastal cities to markets nationwide, Pressman notes that even in Norfolk, Virginia, where she now lives, there’s a significant housing shortage. YIMBY Action’s approach of removing barriers to construction offers a market-friendly path toward addressing the housing crisis.