Infill: A YIMBY Podcast

In this episode, YIMBY Action Executive Director Laura Foote sits down with Will Wilson, volunteer leader of our RVA YIMBY chapter, and Brian Goggin, an affordable housing developer, urbanist, and Policy and Project Manager with True Ground Housing Partners. Together, they discuss how the Commonwealth Housing Coalition helped make Virginia's 2026 legislative session one of the state's most success...

In this episode, YIMBY Law’s Sonja Trauss sits down with Alex Horowitz, Project Director of the Housing Policy Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts, to explore new research on how housing supply impacts affordability across American cities. The conversation examines the concept of “moving chains”—the process by which new housing creates opportunities throughout the housing market as residents m...

In this wide-ranging conversation, Scott Wiener traces his journey from a childhood shaped by building community from scratch to becoming one of the country’s most influential pro-housing lawmakers. He walks through the moment the housing crisis “clicked” for him—defending tenants facing eviction, watching even compliant projects get buried in process, and realizing that scarcity isn’t accidental—...

In this episode of Infill,  listeners will meet Patrick Wolff, long-time YIMBY and candidate for Insurance Commissioner in CA. During the discussion, Sonja Trauss and Wolff unpack a wonky but critical issue: how California’s broken insurance market is making the housing crisis even worse. Wolff explains how outdated regulations, climate-driven risk, and a dysfunctional approval process have turned...

On this episode of the Infill Podcast, we’re giving listeners an inside look at YIMBY Action’s new Scorecards for statewide elected officials, starting with Virginia. Rising housing prices are a huge concern for American voters. YIMBY Action’s Scorecards will be a critical tool for residents to understand which elected officials are taking bold action on housing, so we can make our neighborhoods m...

Meet Drake Warren, a 26-year-old running for Cook County Commissioner in Illinois. He is an engineer and housing advocate who fell in love with Chicago in college. Now, he wants to give back to the community he has made a home in by running for a local government office. He believes that Chicago has begun to lose its YIMBY roots and wants to serve his community by running for office, so that he ca...

On this episode of Infill, YIMBY Law’s Executive Director Sonja Trauss sits down with author Marc J. Dunkelman to tackle one of the biggest questions facing Americans today: why are we unable to build the infrastructure, housing, and public works that our communities so desperately need? Drawing from his new book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress — and How to Bring It Back, Dunkelman explore...

On this episode of Infill, YIMBY Action Managing Director Gillian Pressman speaks with Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. Daryl recently released her book, Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work, and she is a keynote speaker at the upcoming 2025 YIMBYTown conference in New Haven.   Tune in to hear Gillian and Daryl dive into her YIMBY origin story and why she is starti...

Abundance has been the hot topic on a lot of our minds since Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson released their book earlier this year. But how do we make the vision of Abundance politics become a reality? A new coalition of advocates may serve as the answer.   On this episode of Infill, YIMBY Action's Gillian Pressman speaks with Deputy Director at the Breakthrough Institute, Alex Trembath, about how t...

On this episode of Infill, YIMBY Action's Mariah Redfern talks directly with the 2025 Ivory Prize winners. These three trailblazing leaders are tackling the housing crisis through innovation in design, finance, and policy.   Reframe Systems is revolutionizing construction with AI-powered microfactories that drastically cut costs and build time, helping scale sustainable housing faster. Grounded So...

Innovation and YIMBYism are a combination that could help our communities become more affordable, climate resilient, and equitable in the years to come. On this episode of Infill, YIMBY Action's Courtney Porcella sits down with Abby Ivory, Managing Director at Ivory Innovations, to discuss a competition that puts innovation at the forefront of the effort to solve our housing affordability crisis....

On this episode of Infill, YIMBY Action's Marketing Manager Mariah Redfern sits down with artist, activist, and educator Mark Harris to explore the history of redevelopment in San Francisco’s Fillmore District and how systemic displacement continues to impact Black communities today.   Mark shares his personal journey from corporate life to art and activism, and how his work with the Anti-Eviction...

On this episode of Infill, Sonja Trauss is joined by renowned author Richard Rothstein and his daughter Leah Rothstein, co-authors of the book Just Action, also known as the sequel to Richard's groundbreaking work The Color of Law. Together, they explore how housing laws perpetuate segregation and what local communities can do to fight back and build more integrated, equitable neighborhoods. In th...

On this episode of Infill, Gillian Pressman talks with two powerhouse voices: Sonja Trauss, founder of the YIMBY movement and Executive Director of YIMBY Law, and Misha Chellam, founder of the Abundance Network. Together, they unpack the transformative idea of “abundance,” sparked by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s new book. They explore what resources it takes to build abundance and how we can bu...

In this episode of Infill, YIMBY Action Board member Sonja Trauss speaks with Zellnor Myrie, New York State Senator, and mayoral candidate, to discuss why New York housing policies matter far beyond city limits. They discuss how the NYC housing shortage impacts the national economy, what plans Myrie has to enact bold YIMBY policies across the state, and why voters across the country should care ab...

In this episode of Infill, YIMBY Law's Executive Director, Sonja Trauss, sits down with Sara Bronin—architect, attorney, professor, and author—for a deep dive into the rules that shape where and how we live. They discuss findings from the National Zoning Atlas, the power of local zoning codes, and how land use policy affects everything from housing affordability and environmental sustainability to...

In January 2025, wildfires in Los Angeles killed at least 29 people, destroyed thousands of homes, and displaced thousands more. After the fires, Angelenos and their elected officials began figuring out what came next. On this episode of the Infill Podcast, our California Organizing Director, Leora Tanjuatco Ross, speaks with Azeen Khanmalek, Executive Director of the pro-housing advocacy group Ab...

Everyone knows that the cost of living, especially housing, has reached a high that feels unsustainable for most Americans to maintain. So, what can we do to solve this problem?   In 2024, the Chamber of Progress released its Democratic Cost of Living Agenda. The Agenda is a low-cost policy framework with actionable recommendations for legislators to help lower costs in several sectors for familie...

On this episode of the Infill podcast, our Executive Director Laura Foote speaks with Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawai'i. They discuss why housing is a priority issue for Senator Schatz, how folks are thinking about the housing shortage at all levels of government and the unique opportunity that Democrats and Republicans have to work together on this issue for Americans.   Our nation's hou...

On this episode of Infill, YIMBY Law's Executive Director Sonja Trauss speaks with Dr. Adam Ozimek, Chief Economist for the Economic Innovation Group about their idea to get the federal government more involved in housing policy.   Pro-housing advocates understand that we need to incentivize local governments to remove barriers to building new homes. The Economic Innovation Group has come up with...

In this episode of the Infill Podcast, YIMBY Law's Executive Director Sonja Trauss speaks with author Max Podemski about his new book "A Paradise of Small Houses: The Evolution, Devolution, and Potential Rebirth of Urban Housing." In his book, Podemski discusses the history of housing in the United States and the factors that drove housing production in our country's early days.   Although today A...

Americans are struggling to stay afloat due to high housing prices caused by our nation’s housing shortage. Fortunately, there is a growing number of voices advocating for pro-housing policy solutions. Up For Growth is a national, cross-sector member network committed to solving the housing shortage and affordability crisis. While many advocates focus on solutions to the housing shortage at the lo...

On this episode of the Infill Podcast, YIMBY Action's Business Membership Manager, Courtney Porcella, speaks to Ivory Innovation's Hannah Gable about trends in pro-housing policy, what legislation is being passed in different regions of the country, and what advocates can do to replicate pro-housing wins in more communities. Ivory Innovations is a nonprofit working to advance innovation around hou...

In 2020, U.S. census data analysis revealed that, for the first time, Native Hawai'ians living in the continental U.S. outnumbered those living in Hawaii. Redfin reports that the median home list price is currently $825,000.    High cost of living and a lack of affordable homes have continued to be huge challenges for natives and transplants living in Hawai'i. Listen to this episode of Infill to h...

Virginia is short 105,000 homes while rents have gone up 13% in the last 5 years. Despite housing costs rising astronomically, local governments are largely not stepping up to help facilitate or build more homes. That’s why our local YIMBY chapters are taking matters into their own hands, and demanding action from State Officials.   Tune in to this episode of Infill to hear from volunteer leaders...