NIMBYism: An Age-Old Question?
NIMBYism: An Age-Old Question?
The Housing Shortage Is a Problem for the Elderly, Too
“People are going to die!”
The process took six months. The third and final public hearing dragged on for twelve hours. More than 500 citizens spoke, for and against the matter before the Austin City Council. At least two people were thrown out of the chambers. Shortly after 11PM, over the chants of detractors, the Council voted in favor of the ordinance by a 9-2 supermajority. The occasion was momentous: for the first time in nearly forty years, Austin passed a citywide rezoning in an attempt to begin addressing its housing affordability crisis. Housing advocates celebrated the vote through the weekend.
But the reforms themselves were modest.
The city will now allow three housing units to be built on any single-family lot in the city—up from the two that were already allowed under the prior code. The goal is to make it possible to build what’s called “missing middle” housing: duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, cottage courts, and tiny homes. The reforms do not require anybody to build anything on their own lots nor to make any changes to their properties. Anyone seeking to take advantage of the new law will have to abide by a host of other rules that limit the size, shape, and placement of any new units, as well as regulations governing everything from drainage to tree cover. The net effect is likely to be a gradual increase in density throughout the city that will be measured not in years but in decades.
This gentle densification was greeted by detractors with hysteria and hyperbole—a late-middle-aged woman, nearly in tears, literally proclaimed that this policy change will cause people to die. Others predicted environmental catastrophes like massive flooding or the destruction of the urban tree canopy. Still others lamented a “handout to developers” that would spike a land grab across the city, causing further gentrification and displacement of the city’s struggling communities of color.
As with prior public hearings for the so-called HOME (Home Options for Middle-income Empowerment) initiatives, there was a notable generational gap between supporters and opponents. By and large, supporters of the reforms were Millennials and Gen-Zers—many of whom have been priced out of Austin’s housing market—while opponents were largely Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation.
Opponents of new housing in particular, and development in general, are often called NIMBYs, as in, “Not In My Backyard.” As I digested the NIMBYs’ testimony last Thursday, I wondered whether there was something inherent in aging that makes people more likely to oppose new housing. After all, people tend to become more conservative over time. But one of my favorite aspects of the housing reform movement is that it isn’t a left-right or liberal-conservative issue—it doesn’t fall into neat binaries, like so much else in American politics. There are many reasons to support making it easier to build more housing, whether you’re a homelessness activist or a real estate developer, and the coalition reflects a broad diversity of viewpoints.
When looking at a sea of silver hair in Council chambers, it’s tempting to cast housing policy in terms of intergenerational warfare—but it’s not actually true nor very helpful. To wit, the ordinance was supported by a council member and mayor who are both Baby Boomers but see that Austin’s zoning restrictions are harming younger members of their families and community. Even the Texas chapter of AARP supported HOME—because they recognize that the housing shortage hurts retirees just as much as it does young people. Their letter of support captures the challenges of aging in place:
As the population of older Austinites grow[s], the importance of creating [a] variety of housing options will only increase. Older homeowners who want to sell their residence and move into something nearby that's more affordable, compact, and accessible routinely discover such housing doesn't exist.
With people living longer, more and more older adults will be increasingly reliant on family caregivers. Missing Middle Housing and housing for middle-income earners can ensure their family members can also afford to live in Austin.
Indeed, poverty is on the rise among America’s seniors. The spike in housing and other costs, combined with the end of pandemic-era stimulus payments and lagged cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security, have left many seniors struggling to make ends meet. In the Austin metro area, a senior in good health would need to earn $2,640 per month to live comfortably, per the Elder Index. That’s enough to rent a median-priced studio apartment and pay for everything else—so long as you remain healthy.
But the average Social Security benefit is less than $2,000 per month.
A recent study by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies finds that there are nearly 800,000 older Texans who struggle to afford housing. The problem is most acute in Texas’s urban areas, where nearly two-thirds of senior renters are considered cost-burdened, which the study defines as spending 30% or more of household income on housing, utilities, taxes, and insurance.
The problem is playing out on America’s streets. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, “older adults are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population and are making up a larger and larger share of homeless people overall.” The national housing shortage affects the entire nation, young and old alike.
To be sure, the rise in senior homelessness cannot be pinned solely on the housing shortage. A dearth of nursing homes, long waiting lists for supplemental Medicaid services, and rising medical costs have also made low-income seniors vulnerable. But even in retirement, housing remains the single largest expense for most individuals. Liberalizing zoning to allow the construction of lower-cost housing options is a crucial component of addressing the housing shortage facing seniors.
Back in Council chambers, the senior citizens who spoke out against the HOME initiative did so from a place of financial security: most if not all have owned single-family homes in Austin for decades, many in some of the city’s most desirable and expensive neighborhoods. They do not see themselves at risk of losing their homes.
They also do not see the members of their own generation who need homes but were not in the room that day because they could not afford to spend twelve hours at City Hall. NIMBYism is not a problem of aging but a problem that harms people of all ages. Inevitably, people are going to die—but by opposing modest reforms to zoning codes, NIMBYs are increasing the likelihood that for seniors, it will be out on the streets.