Housing Advocate Talks Boomer Blockade

Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic and housing advocate for the homeless Randy Shaw recently released a book studying the ways in which Baby Boomer homeowners have successfully kept Millennials out of both the buying and rental markets.

Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America explains that Boomers have been very successful in staving off greater density in their neighborhoods through NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) zoning initiatives and groups, blocking new construction of housing in urban areas Millennials are targeting, and undercutting housing affordability and supply. In an interview with CityLab, Shaw points out how Boomers have benefitted from excluding other buyers and renters from the market, "Neighborhood councils and homeowners associations are usually comprised of white, wealthier Boomers, even when the neighborhoods are more diverse in terms of race, class, and age. They use their position in these organizations to impede new building such as fourplexes or triplexes," what Millennials are doing to combat this trend, "They’ve become a real presence at city council meetings," and where there may be common ground, "Environmentalism is the core connector."

The Baby Boomer/Millennial housing mismatch is well known: As Boomers age, an upcoming glut of suburban and exurban homes will stand empty and unwanted, leaving both generations at a loss. Downsizing empty-nesters won’t find buyers, because Millennials want smaller homes or condos in or nearer to the city, not big four-bedroom Colonials with yards. And younger adults won’t be able to afford such single-family abodes because urban housing has become too pricey.

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