Glossary
Zoning, housing laws, permitting, process. It’s complicated. We are here to help.
California State Assembly BillLegislation, when proposed by the CA State Assembly, is given a number/ID. For Example, AB1287, passed in 2023, updated the California Density Bonus Law if more affordable units were included in a project.
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Builder’s RemedyA legal mechanism within the Housing Affordability Act (HAA) in the U.S. that can be applied in certain states to expedite the construction of low- or middle-income housing. It allows a developer to bypass or ignore most of the municipality’s zoning laws and legally expedite development.
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Builder’s Remedy
A legal mechanism within the Housing Affordability Act (HAA) in the U.S. that can be applied in certain states to expedite the construction of low- or middle-income housing. It allows a developer to bypass or ignore most of the municipality’s zoning laws and legally expedite development.
California Environmental Quality ActCEQA stands for the California Environmental Quality Act, traditionally requiring state and local agencies in California to assess and disclose the environmental impacts of proposed development projects. Recent reforms significantly reduce the environmental review requirements. This has potentially negative environmental impacts and reduced community input.
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General Plan – Required by CA State LawA general plan is designed to serve as the jurisdiction’s “constitution” or “blueprint” for future decisions concerning land use, infrastructure, public services, and resource conservation. All specific plans, subdivisions, public works projects, and zoning decisions made by the County must be consistent with the General Plan.
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Housing Accountability ActThe CA Housing Accountability Act (HAA), Government Code section 65589.5, establishes limitations to a local government’s ability to deny or reduce density.
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Housing Accountability ActThe CA Housing Accountability Act (HAA), Government Code section 65589.5, establishes limitations to a local government’s ability to deny or reduce density. |
Department of Housing and Community Development (State of CA)This department enforces housing and homelessness laws, including certification of Housing Elements. They also assign RHNA numbers. |
High-Density Development
Any housing development over the number of 25 dwelling units per acre (DU/acre) in Huntington Beach, California, is considered HDD (may vary in other cities).
Housing Element (Part of General Plan, updated every 8 years)
All local governments in California are required to adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community by adopting a Housing Element as part of their General Plan. State law also requires 8-yr updates.
In-Lieu FeesDevelopers’ option to pay a fee instead of constructing the required affordable units in their project. Those funds are amassed and placed in a housing trust to build affordable units in other specific projects.
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NIMBY is short for “Not In My Backyard.”
And let’s perfectly clear: it is a pejorative term. It’s not a neutral description; it’s a loaded label used by those outside our borders—by developers, by city planners, by outside interests—to dismiss legitimate concerns and local self-determination as mere selfishness or obstructionism.
Now, where does this term come from? It’s not some slick, modern invention. The phrase itself has a history, stemming from a slightly older, more direct resistance to development. It evolved as a shorthand way for people in specific localities to assert their boundary and refuse to accept changes that affect their immediate environment. It’s fundamentally a reaction against top-down decisions being imposed upon established communities. The term first appeared in newspapers in February 1979 regarding nuclear waste disposal (Three Mile Island), likely popularized in the early 1980s by British politician Nicholas Ridley to describe community opposition to development.
What NIMBYism really is, though, is the inherent, totally reasonable desire for local control. It’s the fundamental belief that the people who live here—the neighbors, the residents, the established community—have the primary, legitimate authority to decide what happens on our streets, what goes into our neighborhoods, and what kind of development is appropriate for us. We deserve that control. We are the ones who actually live here, and we know our community better than anyone.
When someone labels us NIMBY, they are trying to dismiss our valid concerns—concerns about traffic, infrastructure strain, property values, and the character of our homes—as simply being selfish obstacles to progress. But we aren’t obstacles; we are the community! We are the people who hold the real stake in this land.
So, next time you hear that term, remember this: NIMBY isn’t about being against progress; it’s about demanding that any progress be handled thoughtfully, responsibly, and with respect for the community that already exists. We don’t want to be bypassed; we want to be heard. We want the power to regulate our own zoning and development decisions, right here, on our own turf. That is what we demand.
Our Neighborhood VoicesONV is a grassroots nonprofit sponsoring a ballot initiative to restore local authority over housing. Members are your neighbors, colleagues, and local leaders. There are now two separate organizations. The ongoing effort to place an initiative on the California State Ballot will be led by the existing Our Neighborhood Voices political organization. To increase education and awareness, a 501c3 Non-Profit has been created. Please sign up, volunteer or donate to this effort. |
Regional Housing Numbers AllocationRHNA is a state-mandated process whereby HCD (CA State Department of Housing and Community Development) quantifies and allocates each region’s housing needs. State Law requires each region’s local governments (via SCAG) to accommodate a certain portion of development in each jurisdiction’s planning and revised Housing Element.
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California Senate BillLegislation, when proposed by the CA State Senate, is given a number/ID. For Example, SB79 is a proposed bill for transit-oriented development (TOD) that will allow near-unlimited development in many neighborhoods without local input.
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Southern California Association of GovernmentsSCAG is the largest metropolitan planning organization in the U.S. They are involved with planning and allocating RHNA numbers. SCAG is also involved with the Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS).
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YIMBY stands for “Yes In My Backyard.”
But, it really should say “Yes In –Your- Backyard.”
This isn’t some abstract slogan; it is the powerful, organized, and increasingly successful reaction from the community—the residents, the neighbors, the people who actually live on the ground—who are fighting back against bad, rushed, and destructive development impacts.
What YIMBY truly represents is the empowered collective voice of successful residents who refuse to stand by and let their communities be dictated by distant, out-of-touch interests. We are a successful culture that recognizes that the fate of our neighborhood rests not with some abstract planning board or a Wall Street developer (empowered by Sacramento Politicians), but with the people who live here every single day.
When we talk about YIMBY, we are talking about demanding local control of zoning. This isn’t about some mystical, centralized planning scheme dictated by big politicians or corporate interests floating in some faraway office. That’s central planning, and it doesn’t work for our streets.
YIMBY is about the power of the neighborhood to self-govern. It is the active push to ensure that development decisions are made at the hyper-local level, where the consequences of building a new complex, changing a street, or altering the character of our community are felt by us—the people—directly and immediately. We want the authority to decide what happens to our homes, our infrastructure, and our quality of life.
So, YIMBY is not just a phrase; it is a movement. It’s the refusal to accept that our community is just a piece of undeveloped land waiting to be exploited. It’s the collective insistence that we have the right, the power, and the responsibility to say “yes” or “no” to what happens on our own block, our own street, and our own backyard. We are demanding a voice that matters, and we are demanding that the zoning decisions reflect the reality of our neighborhood, not some distant corporate agenda.