YIMBY Melbourne launches to bring more housing to your back yard

Key points

• The Melbourne Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) movement is now formalised as an incorporated association
• YIMBY Melbourne Inc. has been founded to advocate for one thing: “housing abundance in Melbourne” (April 30)
• This follows the sold-out launch event ‘Housing: Our Human Right in Crisis’ with 140 tickets booked, Oxford Scholar Level 1 at-capacity (April 20)
• The organisation is hitting the ground running with local council advocacy workshop ‘Yes in Your BackYard’, which already has 30+ attendees booked from 15 local Councils (Forthcoming: May 7)

Full Release

YIMBY Melbourne’s launch event ‘Housing: Our Human Right in Crisis’ saw RMIT’s Oxford Scholar bursting with 140 tickets booked. As Melbourne’s housing affordability climbs to among the worst in the world, residents are waking up to the real changes needed.

The event included a panel discussion with housing activists Jonathan Nolan and Katie Roberts-Hull. Roberts-Hull recently came to prominence over the controversial heritage listing of the infamous Carlton Carpark, while Nolan has a long history as a cycling infrastructure advocate.

The panel spanned topics including effective local action, as well as the laws and political processes that prevent Melbourne from building new housing where it is most-needed.

To best channel the energy and dedication on display at this event, and following press including The Age, Crikey, ABC, and 3AW, the group has now formalised as YIMBY Melbourne Incorporated. YIMBY Melbourne Inc. is a non-partisan, grassroots organisation advocating for housing abundance in Melbourne, starting with advocacy at local Council planning meetings.

“When a council debates new midrise housing proposals, they typically only hear from one side of the debate—the side that opposes the development. The people who benefit most from new housing, those who want to live in an area but can’t, are rarely heard by councils,” says YIMBY Melbourne Secretary Tom Pisel.

“Five storeys becomes three, and projects are rejected entirely. These rejections are death by a thousand cuts for housing supply, forcing young and vulnerable people to move away from their communities when buying a home and starting a family.”

While home ownership has been a cornerstone of the Australian dream for a century, rising prices have locked out entire generations from achieving this same stability. More than 60% of Victorians below the age of 30 now live with their parents (2021 HILDA Survey).

As housing scarcity is an issue that affects many individuals from all walks of life, the organisation is strongly non-partisan and fiercely grassroots:

“There is a big difference between being pro-development and pro-developer,” says Lead Organiser Jonathan O’Brien. “Remaining explicitly grassroots and member-driven is an essential part of building an effective coalition to combat the housing crisis.”

More than 30 people from 15 councils have signed up for YIMBY Melbourne’s next event, the ‘Yes in Your Back Yard’ local advocacy workshop. The workshop will equip attendees with the skills and resources needed to advocate for housing abundance at Councils across Melbourne.

According to O’Brien, the organisation intends to have an active advocacy presence across a minimum of 10 Councils by the end of June.

“YIMBYism crosses party lines and ideologies. As we begin lobbying Councils, it’s essential to remember that housing abundance is a non-partisan mindset. That’s something we want to foster, because this is the start of something big.”