NIMBY v YIMBY as Victoria’s housing crisis grows

“We are pulling every lever in our control to build more homes.”

Max Shifman, a Melbourne developer and former president of the Urban Development Institute of Australia warns that Merri-bek’s plan to force residential developers to build commercial premises will increase the cost of homes.

“International experience shows that prescriptive policies like this, similar to inclusionary zoning rules, might increase the proportion of commercial, but it will substantially reduce the amount of development that is actually feasible and gets off the ground in the first place,” Mr Shifman said. “That’s not what we need in the midst of a housing crisis.”

�?Front for developers’

Merri-bek discussed the plan, which says, “new developments are focusing on apartments and not providing enough space for new businesses”, on Wednesday night, but deferred its decision until next month.

RMIT Centre for Urban Research director Professor Jago Dodson supported the plan, arguing that there were good urban design and economic reasons to mandate ground-level retail in multi-unit residential developments within activity centres, while Labor-aligned councillor Lambros Tapinos said it was vital to stop Brunswick becoming “boring”.

Councillor James Conlan, who quit the Greens last year, hit out at community group YIMBY Melbourne, which advocates for increased housing density in established areas.

“The YIMBY movement are a front for unfettered private property developers, masquerading as a �?grassroots movement’,” Mr Conlan, who has previously argued that building more housing won’t decrease house prices, posted on social media after the council meeting.

“They have a deluded grasp of the housing system that assumes private property developers are going to solve the housing crisis, which is essentially the physical manifestation of trickle-down economics. Just need to eliminate pesky regulations, so corporations can fix housing.”

Jonathan O’Brien, lead organiser of YIMBY Melbourne, said mandating commercial minimums would make fewer projects viable in Merri-bek, in turn jacking up house prices and emptying the streets.

“No serious progressive should be forcing poorer people out of our cities and using outdated planning controls to stop homes being built where people want to live. Beyond a certain point, so-called progressive NIMBYs become indistinguishable from their conservative counterparts,” Mr O’Brien said.

“If Merri-bek council is actually serious about mixed-use development, then they should permit it across the entire (local government area), instead of just in tiny so-called activity centres. Broad upzoning around the many train and tram stops across all of Merri-bek is the right thing for council to do if they want to see truly abundant housing and business diversity.”

Centre for Independent Studies chief economist Peter Tulip also weighed into the clash. “NIMBYs who think their opponents are just a �?front for developers’ show a complete lack of awareness of the research, which overwhelmingly shows the harm that zoning restrictions do,” he said.