Yes in my backyard: San Francisco activists push for more construction in Baghdad by the Bay.

• Author: Garcia, Alexis
• Position: Reason TV - California

"Cities are incredible things," says activist Sonja Trauss. "They're places where freedom is possible in a way that is just not as possible in a small town. So I feel like San Francisco and the Bay Area should be taking advantage of its opportunity to build a big city."

But San Francisco isn't getting that much bigger--at least in terms of places to live. In 2015, the Bay area added 64,000 jobs but less than 5,000 residential units.

One of the reasons for the housing shortfall is the existence of NIMBY ("not in my backyard") groups that have been able to successfully organize against development in the region. That in turn has sparked a countermovement of YIMBY ("yes in my backyard") groups that believe the solution is to build, build, build.

Trauss, who founded the San Francisco Bay Area Renters' Federation (yes, the acronym is SF BARF), is one of this movement's more visible members. The problem she's combatting lies in the city's unique regulatory culture that allows neighbors to weigh in, and often veto, new construction they deem a nuisance. "We are embarking on a public conversation about property rights and where they should be situated," Trauss says. "Currently..you can't do that much to your property, but you have a lot of control over everyone else's around you. We want to switch the regime."

Some of the recent developments delayed by NIMBY opponents include a 36-story residential building at 1481 Post Street that was first proposed over 10 years ago; a 17-acre space at Balboa Reservoir that is currently an empty parking lot; and a 10-story condo development at 1979 Mission Street that residents have dubbed the "monster in the Mission." In 2010, residents banded together to block the addition of high-speed internet equipment around the city, with some claiming a broadband antenna could "accidentally zap residents with concentrated radio waves" in the event of an earthquake.

Besides the NIMBYs, developers face another major opposition force in San Francisco: well-intentioned progressives who want to help the poor by allowing only certain kinds of housing to be built. These activists worry that new luxury...