Executive Summary:
The following presentation on “Communication with Policymakers and Media – For the Win!” was presented at YIMBYtown 2024, covering how Light-touch Density is the key to achieving housing abundance. Light-touch Density, which involves moderately increasing density in areas zoned exclusively for single-family detached homes, can tailored be to the context of specific localities.
LTD strategies—combined with by-right zoning, light-touch regulations, processing, and permitting—are a low-cost, high-yield solution to tacking housing affordability without the need for any subsidies. To successfully pass and implement these LTD solutions, politicians and activists must articulate the need for more housing, identify key stakeholders, tailor their arguments to different political persuasions, and build diverse coalitions that advance data-driven solutions to housing unaffordability.