YIMBY Law

03/30/2026

Are Housing Elements valid without environmental reviews? We're about to find out.

We sued the city of Sausalito back in 2023 in part because Sausalito adopted its Housing Element without preparing an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). We scored a victory when the City completed an EIR while the case was pending. But when the court accepted this argument, they avoided answering the question of whether state law requires Housing Elements to undergo that analysis in the first place.

Now, we're appealing to get answers.

Get the details on our latest appeal 👇

YIMBY Law challenges a noncompliant housing plan

02/12/2026

Valentine’s Day is almost here. Today, YIMBY Law dropped some tough love for San Francisco.

After lots of YIMBY organizing, SF passed a major rezoning plan called the Family Zoning Plan.

Though the Family Zoning Plan represents important progress toward getting more homes built, the numbers still don’t add up.

So, YIMBY Law, California Housing Defense Fund (CalHDF), and Californians for Homeownership are stepping in.

Learn more about the lawsuit and its significance: https://yimbylaw.pulse.ly/u09ilpii0m

07/07/2025

We're proud to announce that the RWJFoundation is supporting our work with a $250k grant to advance health equity through pro-housing implementation.

Housing policy is deeply tied to health policy. Too many Americans are facing health inequality simply due to which zip code they were born into.

We're glad that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is making it clear that housing must be addressed in order to improve health equity for all of us.

Learn more:

“Housing policy is health policy,” said YIMBY ED Sonja Trauss. PLAINSBORO, NEW JERSEY - Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) is proud to announce it has received a $250,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform he...

04/08/2025

We sued Cupertino today. Again. Twice.

They're trying to block these housing proposals by arbitrarily claiming the applications are incomplete. Read our full press release 👇
https://yimbylaw.org/press/cupertino-two-lawsuits-illegally-blocked-homes

10/08/2024

Check out our very own Sonja Trauss on CNN's The Assignment with Audie Cornish this Thursday! Sonja talks all about housing going national 👀

08/07/2024

ANNOUCEMENT 🚨

Today we are launching our brand new housing elements dashboard.

The dashboard is a GAME CHANGER for advocates, researchers, journalists, and pro-housing organizations across California who are tracking cities and counties as they implement their housing plans.

“We’re thrilled to launch this tool so anyone can help enforce fair housing plans across the state. Cities will no longer be able to get away with not implementing their Housing Elements. Not with so many of us paying attention."

San Francisco, CA— YIMBY Law has launched a dashboard that tracks Housing Element compliance and the implementation process. This dashboard will provide useful information for advocates, researchers, journalists, and pro-housing organizations who are tracking cities and counties as they implemen

07/25/2024

We won BIG this week in Millbrae, CA 👏

Alongside the County of San Mateo, we have prevailed in our defense of a plan to purchase a La Quinta Inn & Suites with the intent to convert it into affordable homes for unhoused seniors and families.

We're excited to see these much-needed homes get built very soon!

Read our full statement:

San Francisco, CA— YIMBY Law and the County of San Mateo have prevailed in their defense of a plan to purchase a La Quinta Inn & Suites with the intent to convert it into affordable homes for unhoused seniors and families. The County will now be allowed to continue buying the hotel and p

06/28/2024

We condemn SCOTUS for further criminalizing homelessness in the Grant's Pass decision today.

Local governments are not providing enough homes for people who need them. Arresting people will not solve homelessness. We need more homes.

Read our full statement: https://yimby.blog/yimby-action-and-yimby-law-condemn-supreme-court-for-further-criminalizing-homelessness-in-grants-pass-decision/

04/16/2024

Our Executive Director Sonja Trauss is sharing the importance of YIMBY advocacy and pro-housing policy at a roundtable for Senator Brian Schatz!

We love to see it!

04/10/2024

The big, bad Builder's Remedy is here 😏

And so far we're seeing lots of multi-family projects in high-resource neighborhoods that otherwise would be banned by the existing low-density zoning.

YIMBY Law sees development provision as an integration tool for California planners, backed by a new report.

02/14/2024

In case you didn't hear it from us, you can hear it from the news 😏

We're officially expanding so that we can enforce more pro-housing laws in states in California and beyond 🔥

"There are several states where state legislatures have passed new programs that allow increased density in existing residential zones or housing in commercial zones. And we want to be able to help make sure these laws get implemented.”

San Francisco-based advocacy group plans on “holding more cities accountable” for housing development.