When Gen Z activist Olivia Julianna joined the pod this week, we weren’t expecting to talk about affordable housing. After all, many of us have set ideas about what young people care about, like climate change, gun violence, and LGBTQ+ rights.
And while of course Gen Z cares deeply about those issues, Olivia says that most young people like her care about the same issues as Americans of all ages - which means their #1 issue is the economy. And a big part of that is affordable housing.
Olivia proudly calls herself a YIMBY. The acronym stands for Yes In My Backyard and it means supporting policies to build more diverse and affordable housing. House prices are high, and in many places rent is even higher, forcing families and young people like Olivia out of the neighborhoods where they work.
Much like his fear-mongering lies about immigrants in Springfield Ohio, Trump wants to scare suburban women about “poor” and “undesirable” families moving into our neighborhoods. But as our resident economist Amanda points out, affordable housing helps so many Americans… like our kids! Most young people can’t afford a six-bedroom house - they need affordable housing near their college or workplace. As much as we love our young adult kids, we don’t want them living in our basements because their rent is too high. We want them thriving, learning to support themselves, and ready to enter their next phase of adult life.
Once again, Trump is trying to turn neighbors and families against each other when we’re all on the same side: Yes In My Backyard (but ideally Not In My Basement)!
Parents say "Yes In My Backyard"