ARTICLES

GETTING FROM NIMBY TO YES:
How developers can overcome opposition and mobilize support for multifamily housing
Multifamily Trends - Summer 2001, Vol. 4 number 3

by Debra Stein

You are a developer who is trying to build low-income apartments, luxury condominiums, or a mixed-use new-urbanist project in an area where neighbors typically respond to any high-density housing proposal with shouts of "not in my backyard!" You can foresee the conflict ahead: pickets, petitions, and protesters stirring up neighborhood fears of traffic, crowded schools, and plummeting property values. Although community opposition to multifamily housing may be typical, it is not inevitable. A proactive community outreach program can reduce anticipated opposition and mobilize community support; a haphazard, reactive outreach campaign can leave you with more problems than you started with as well as a bill for costly but unnecessary exactions and concessions. Here are some tips for reducing opposition from citizens and mobilizing community support for your project.

Develop Targeted Arguments

People who oppose multifamily housing projects typically like the status quo and are worried about negative changes to their lifestyles. They do not want more traffic, less open space, or lower property values. Reassurances that the status quo will be maintained often can reduce community opposition to a multifamily proposal. Common mechanisms for protecting the status quo include enforceable permit conditions, a track record of high-quality projects, and evidence of excellent design and maintenance.

In contrast, people who support multifamily housing generally do so because they want new benefits such as more housing, a better civic image, or the elimination of a contaminated brownfield. Supporters of high-density housing are often the "have-nots" of society, including renters, lower-income residents, seniors, blue-collar workers, union members, and persons of color. Arguments that focus on new tax revenues (and the new public services that those tax revenues will make possible) plus the creation of new housing and community facilities tend to appeal to likely supporters more than to likely opponents.

Research indicates that people are much more likely to protect what they already have than to risk their current quality of life for speculative future benefits. That is why, when talking with opponents, you may want to characterize your project in ways that emphasize how it will protect existing benefits ("this is the only way to ensure that the land remains as permanent open space") rather than describing it in terms of how the project will create new benefits ("this plan will include a new neighborhood park").

Do Not Make Unnecessary Concessions

Resistance to multifamily housing proposals stems from several causes, and making concessions will not solve every problem. For example, if opponents mistakenly believe your development firm is responsible for the crime-riddled, drug-infested housing project across town, eliminating units from your current proposal will not resolve the fundamental cause of opposition. Look at all your options – including providing public information, engaging in persuasion, meeting neighbors' emotional needs, and considering the relative cost of placating opponents as compared to the cost of mobilizing supporters – before making costly concessions.

Make Only Persuasive Concessions

Even a popular concession may not actually reduce opposition to or mobilize support for your project. For example, neighbors might tell you that they would like your project more if the density were lower, but cutting density to a level that is still financially feasible may not be sufficiently persuasive. You could easily end up at city hall with fewer permitted units but just as many opponents. By comparison, a concession that immediately excites only a handful of people – for example, the inclusion of equestrian trails through your property – could be a "silver bullet." If you can make the horse trail scenario more visible and credible, you may be able to persuasively compensate for the project's impact on the community's rural character.

Keep in mind that something you view as a standard project feature – such as environmental monitoring reports, green construction practices, limited operating hours, bike lockers, or a shuttle van to local transit – may be seen by neighbors as a major concession. Just because you have a legitimate business rationale for incorporating features like these into your plan does not mean they cannot be presented to neighbors as painfully exacted, community-oriented concessions.

Do Opinion Research

When thousands or even millions of dollars worth of potential concessions are on the table, do not simply guess which concessions will be persuasive. Only public opinion research can distinguish between concessions people merely like and those that actually shift opinions. Research can reveal pro-project arguments that work, disclose messages that effectively rebut or neutralize opposition attacks, identify target audiences, and guide how you spend your limited outreach dollars. Survey results also can demonstrate to public officials that your project enjoys a broad base of community support and can help indicate voters' opinions about various exactions or concessions.

Do Not "Tell" Neighbors About Your Project

Your invitation to "come to a meeting so we can tell you what we're doing" could actually end up offending many citizens. Your project's neighbors may interpret your invitation as a declaration that you are entitled to make unilateral decisions about issues that will have a major impact on the community, and that you feel you have only a patronizing obligation to tell your victims about it after the fact. A better way to get neighbors to a meeting is to ask to meet with citizens so you can listen to them.

Avoid Huge Community Meetings

At their worst, massive public workshops or homeowners' association meetings can introduce potential opponents to each other, allow them to hear and adopt each other's agendas, and encourage spotlight-hungry activists to engage in extreme diatribe in order to impress their constituents. When you need to interact with large groups, consider unilateral communication such as direct mail or advertising, invitational coffee-and-donut events in private homes, or open houses stretching out over several hours or even several days. If you must participate in a huge community meeting, make sure your supporters are there to prevent the misperception that "everyone" hates the project.

Reduce Audience Anonymity

Just because neighbors feel angry does not necessarily mean they have to behave in an angry manner. People are much more likely to engage in booing, shouting, or other nasty behavior when they think they are anonymous members of a faceless crowd. You can reduce aggressive behavior simply by making it easier to hold individuals personally responsible for their aggressive actions. In a group setting, use large name tags and ask speakers to identify themselves before they ask questions or make comments. Call on citizens by name and avoid referring to the audience as a single entity ("You guys are all …"). Urge neighbors to think of themselves and their own private standards, and otherwise encourage people to view themselves as autonomous individuals rather than as members of a mob.

Watch Out for the Protestant Work Ethic

According to the Protestant work ethic, through our own efforts we can succeed and obtain the material rewards of our hard work. Financial status thus becomes a signal of moral worth, and we assume that people who earn what we earn and live as we live will engage in the same kinds of socially responsible behavior we attribute to ourselves. This ethic also has a less-pleasant inverse: the oft-held conviction that if people are poor (or even just not as rich as us), it is their own fault: they are "lazy bums" and therefore more likely to engage in antisocial conduct ranging from dropping litter on the sidewalk to drug dealing, from playing loud music to engaging in prostitution. Challenge opponents' presumption that only residents of expensive homes can behave in a neighborly way, and consider recruiting prospective tenants ahead of time to personally protest income-based ethics or negative stereotypes.

Meet Neighbors' Emotional Needs

Hell hath no fury like a citizen who thinks he or she has been humiliated; so go out of your way to show neighbors how much you respect them. Make eye contact, using your right eye to look into the other person's right eye. Refer to individuals by name. And keep your hands away from your mouth while listening to neighbors because hiding your lips while listening sends strong signals of rejection.

Get Your Foot in the Door

The primary value of petitions, letters, and endorsement cards is not as lobbying tools. Their real value is that they dramatically increase the likelihood that supporters will show up at hearings. Before you ask a supporter to take time off from work or family to testify in favor of your project, get your foot in the door with a much smaller request. Begin by getting your ally to agree to some minor, painless request. ("Can we add your name to our list of supporters?") Then you can escalate your demands and ask for a much larger show of support. ("Will you call your council member and urge her to approve the rezoning?") Having agreed to the initial request, your supporter will feel both internal and external pressure to comply with your later request to avoid looking shamefully inconsistent.

The Bottom Line

Overcoming NIMBY opposition from neighbors means more than just reacting when residents start protesting. A proactive community relations plan and a well-conceived concession strategy will allow you to minimize opposition to and mobilize support for your multifamily housing projects.


Debra Stein is the president of the San Francisco-based public affairs firm, GCA Strategies. She is the author of several books on NIMBYism and her firm specializes in controversial land use projects across the nation. For more information, e-mail Stein, call her at 415-391-4100 or visit the GCA Strategies Web site at www.gcastrategies.com.