Comment on “Does the Likely Demographics of Affordable Housing Justify NIMBYism?”

Wassmer and Wahid ( 2019 ) ask whether not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) attitudes are justi fi ed given the  “ likely demographics ”  of a ff ordable housing. Given the extensive history of racial and class exclusion in American communities, the unequal access to homeownership and wealth building because of policy and banking rules, and the demonization of poor and nonwhite neighbors by real estate interests, suggesting that NIMBYists be compensated for their exclusionary behavior goes against everything that our current housing policies, urban planning theory, and basic fairness stand for. By framing the research question in this way they make invisible the racism, bigotry, and classism that produces the dynamic they profess to study.