Why do “crazy people like me” determine our housing policy?

Attending hearings and meetings about whether to build new housing often requires time and a flexible schedule that, for a number of reasons, many people don't have. It'd be a mistake to think that the only people with opinions on what should happen in their neighborhoods are the ones who show up to talk about them.

Listen to what Laura Foote Clark, the executive director of YIMBY Action, a San Francisco group that believes outright opposition to new development has widespread negative consequences, said at a recent hearing (brought to my attention by Laura Loe, a Seattle housing activist):

Foot's basic point is that not everyone who has an opinion on housing gets to weigh in on it, and the people making decisions should remember that.

“62% of respondents said they support new housing in their neighborhood,” she says. “Obviously, that is not always represented in the kinds of people who come to these hearings. And I think it's important for you all to keep in mind that this is not necessarily the most democratic way to get the pulse of people's reaction to building housing in their neighborhood.”

In other words, people who show up to protest new housing may be vocal, but that doesn't mean their opinions are popular.

“The people who are able to make time on a Thursday afternoon and voice their concerns or support to you are crazy people like me,” Clark continues. “You should definitely take what we have to say with a grain of salt. The people who can devote their lives to obsessing about land use are maybe not the people who should be listened to the most.”

This is anecdotal to be sure, but whenever I've attended community meetings in DC with housing projects on the agenda, most of the people sharing opinions have been homeowners. It's great for homeowners to say what they think, but homeowners are only one subset of any area's population, and I seriously doubt that I'm alone in my observation.

Also, while this video is about housing, the thinking applies to public hearings of all kinds, from housing to transportation to education and beyond. David Whitehead, one of my GGWash co-workers, sometimes tells a story about a meeting on the future of the DC General homeless shelter that happened at 10 am in Shaw.

Who from DC General is going to across town to Shaw to share their opinion at a meeting in the middle of the day? And just how many people— people who may be just fine with new homes going up near where they live, let's say, or with parking spaces turning into a bike lane— are going to carve out time in their schedules (if doing that is even an option) to go to a community meeting?

It's true that members of a democracy need to stay informed and get involved. But we should still stop to remember that the people in a meeting room aren't necessarily representative of what the public actually wants.

Thumbnail: Image by the author.