ABOUT US
Better housing, together
We’re YIMBYs: we believe that everyone deserves a high quality, safe and affordable place to live. That means we want to see better places and more homes built with the support of local communities. YIMBY stands for “Yes in my back yard”: we support more high-quality homes near us.
YIMBY Alliance is an alliance of campaigns working to end the housing crisis. Check out our local groups as well as some great National campaigns!
OUR TEAM
KANE EMERSON
YIMBY ALLIANCE TEAM
Head of Housing Research at YIMBY Alliance
Kane Emerson is head of housing research at YIMBY Alliance. As a political activist and organiser, Kane has heard about poor housing conditions and overcrowding on hundreds of doorsteps across the country.
Kane co-wrote the UK Day One report proposing Tempsford New Town, which received wide national media coverage. He is co-author of the joint YIMBY Alliance and Tony Blair Institute report, The Urgent Need to Build More Homes, and the UK Day One report Fast Wins on Planning for Housing.
Kane is also a school governor, chair of his estate’s residents’ association and treasurer of the Labour Party Irish Society.
JAMES GRADEL
YIMBY ALLIANCE TEAM
Policy and Campaigns Officer at YIMBY Alliance
James is the Policy and Campaigns Officer at YIMBY Alliance. He works on policy research, political strategy and communications.
James studied International Relations with French at the University of Birmingham, where he wrote a dissertation analysing the political speeches of New Labour.
As part of his degree, James also spent a year studying in France at Sciences Po in Lyon.
ANYA MARTIN
YIMBY ALLIANCE TEAM
Policy Lead at YIMBY Alliance
Anya is Policy Lead at YIMBY Alliance. She was previously director at PricedOut and has a background in research and data analysis in a number of sectors including housing associations, charities, and financial regulation. She is interested in how we can make the best evidence and policy design on housing affordability from around the world accessible to and implementable by policymakers.
JOHN MYERS
YIMBY ALLIANCE TEAM
Director at YIMBY Alliance
John Myers is Director of YIMBY Alliance. Inspired by the grassroots movement for affordable housing in the US, John brought together a team to work with communities on sustainable ways to end the housing crisis.
John is co-author of the joint YIMBY Alliance and Tony Blair Institute Report, The Urgent Need to Build More Homes.
In his spare time, John is a trustee of the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies. John trained as a lawyer.
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News
The path to higher living standards runs through Cambridge
The Government has announced promising plans that could transform one of Britain's most unaffordable cities: thousands of new homes for working families, improved public transport to cut commuting times, and many new job opportunities. And you have the chance to help...
Upward extensions: making our cities fit for families
London’s housing crisis is pricing out families. The sky-high cost of space means that many Londoners face a tough question: if you want to have children, what do you sacrifice? Do you try to fit your family into a small home, or do you say goodbye to the community...
How much space can you afford to buy?
The cost of living is often discussed as a question of energy prices, groceries, and wages. But there is an even more fundamental driver persistently pushing up costs for families across Britain: housing costs. The average house now costs eight times more than the...
How much space can you afford to rent?
A map of rent per square metre for renters in England and Wales If you rent, you probably don’t think in square metres. You think about how many bedrooms and space you can actually get for your monthly budget. Take £1,500 a month. In parts of the North East or Wales,...
The promise of suburban renewal
The Government has made significant progress in its first year of streamlining the planning process and has announced three new towns to be initiated during this Parliament. The goals are simple: build new homes for workers and grow the economy. One effective way to...
The cause of the affordability crisis
Britain’s housing crisis is, at root, a shortage in the places people need to live. That is why prices sit far above what it costs to build, why young people delay forming households, and why rents are so high. Tax tweaks could free up some extra homes, but they...
Lessons from the housing crisis in Ireland
This is a guest piece from Connor Holbert. Connor is a working professional who lives in London. He has also lived in the United States, Mexico, and Ireland, personally witnessing how housing scarcity affected each country. I moved to Dublin in autumn 2022. By then,...
Residential annexes: a blueprint for backyard homes
Residential annexes are Britain’s most overlooked housing opportunity: low-impact, family-friendly, and essential for scaling up new infill homes. Drawing on international success and UK examples, this piece sets out how a clear national framework and locally tailored...
How the government can still build more homes
This week brought two pieces of news on planning. First, we now know that the consultation on ‘brownfield passports’ will be delayed. The Government’s intention is that these passports will make it easier to build more homes on previously developed land. They were...