Opinion: What NYC Can Learn from Grassroots Housing Movements in Other Cities

""New York City, long positioned at the forefront of housing innovation, is falling behind," the author writes. "The most effective innovations happen when residents are treated as partners with authority and vision." Across the U.S. and around the world, everyday people-tenants, workers, organizers-are transforming the future of housing in their cities and catalyzing positive change. New York City, long positioned at the forefront of housing innovation, is falling behind."

"Resident-inspired "bottom-up" initiatives are reshaping housing policy with concrete examples emerging from cities around the world. In Minnesota, a grassroots movement called "Neighbors for More Neighbors " helped transform the public conversation on state housing policy, using art and social media campaigns to highlight how exclusionary zoning limits access to affordable homes. This later developed into a more solid, organized coalition."

Community-led, resident-inspired initiatives are driving housing innovation across cities by transforming policy through grassroots organizing, art, and social media campaigns. These movements increase housing supply and diversity, challenge exclusionary single-family zoning, and spur major reforms such as Minneapolis 2040, which eliminated single-family zoning citywide. Government-led policy can create impact but often relies on familiar mechanisms and limits fresh perspectives, while grassroots coalitions convert collective energy into concrete policy change and public pressure. Combining top-down reforms with bottom-up resident authority and vision can revitalize housing strategy and advance equitable access.

Read at City Limits