FUJIGM, NIMBY-ism, CHILDREN, and the San Diego Mayoral Election

Re-Electing Our Mayor: It’s for the Good of Children

by Gregg Robinson

I was at a local Democratic Party club meeting a few months ago where some members of the club were railing against city housing policy regarding ADUs, and it reminded me of my father’s warning when I was a kid.  My dad was working-class and a member of the Teamsters. I must have been about 7 when he took me on his knee and warned me the world worked according to FUJIGM. That’s an acronym, and it stands for “F*** U Jack I Got Mine.” The more currently acceptable acronym is NIMBY. 

Whatever you call it, those who want to preserve “neighborhood character” and resist zoning changes in single-family areas are defending both racial and class privilege.  Equally important, they are saying they don’t give a sh** about low income or children of color.  For that reason I support re-electing our Democratic Mayor Todd Gloria.  Let me explain why.

I know what it feels like to be housing insecure.  My Dad besides being a Teamster was an alcoholic.  That disease created tremendous insecurity in our family—fights, job loss, threats of divorce, etc.   In those days, however, we lived in an economically integrated community.  One neighbor was a factory worker, across the street was a doctor’s family, and down the street my best friend’s dad was a chemist.  Given the instability in my family, I was taken in by the chemist’s family, and it was that borrowed stability and the educational role model of my friend’s dad that motivated me to go to college, become a professor, and, more recently, get elected to the San Diego County Board of Education (this essay represents my own opinion, not that of my board). 

This is more than a personal anecdote, however.  The days of economically integrated communities are nearly gone, and with them the educational advantages they give to children.  Yes, when I was growing up, those economically integrated communities were racially segregated, and while racial segregation is no longer legal, economic segregation has taken its place with devastating impacts on children and their education. 

The current political debate for re-electing our local leaders centers around both homelessness and the cost of housing.  Too often this debate pits local homeowners who want the homeless out of their communities and oppose increased density in their single-family neighborhoods against activists who argue that we must build more housing in these middle-class neighborhoods if we have any hope of lowering the cost of housing and avoiding homelessness.  Left out of this conflict are the needs of children.

As I said, I serve on the County Board of Education and we are told that there are nearly 20,000 children who are homeless in our County—most of whom live in the city of San Diego. It is for these children, and the much larger group of low-income children who are excluded from the educational and social advantages of living in middle-class communities that I support the re-election of Todd Gloria for San Diego City mayor.  The case for support is based in what we know about homelessness, housing affordability, and the impact of all these on children.

First, the evidence is clear: homelessness is the result of the high cost of housing. The most definitive study of homelessness in California was done by researchers at UC San Francisco.  In their research they argue: “… The results of [our] study confirm that far too many Californians experience homelessness because they cannot afford housing.” Another academic study of homelessness from the University of Washington put it succinctly in the book that came out of their research: Homelessness, a Housing Problem.  Thus, if we are to deal with homelessness, we must above all else confront the high cost of housing. 

It is an article of faith for both conservatives and progressives that the smaller the scale of political institutions, the more democratic they tend to be.  This faith, however, flies in the face of the evidence.  In study after study local planning agencies and small local city bodies are those most likely to be dominated by white home owners to the detriment of renters, low-income people, people of color, and their children.

Avoiding the term NIMBY, professors of urban planning at Boston University, in their book Neighborhood Defenders, show how middle-class home owners dominate local planning groups with serious consequences for housing availability: “Neighborhood defenders participate disproportionately and take advantage of land use regulations to restrict the construction of multifamily housing. The result is diminished housing stock and higher housing costs, with participatory institutions perversely reproducing inequality.”  

A study out of the American Institute for Economic Research is more willing to call it like it is and is titled “The Sad Irony of NIMBYism”: “A wide consensus has formed in the literature linking zoning regulations to unaffordable housing and worsening homelessness.”

The NIMBYs impact on housing availability and homelessness leads directly to dramatic impacts on low-income children.  Study after study has found that low-income children benefit academically, socially, and economically from living and going to school in socio-economically diverse neighborhoods.  In groundbreaking research, Raj Chetty (Harvard) found that children of poor families who were randomly assigned to live in middle class communities, “…increased college attendance and lifetime earnings and reduced single parenthood rates.” 

A similar study by past President of the American Sociological Association, Douglas Massey, found that “Identical individuals with similar family backgrounds and personal characteristics will lead very different lives and different rates of socio-economic success depending on where they reside.”

The scholar Richard Kahlenberg, from the Progressive Policy Institute, argues that, “Housing Policy is School Policy....[and that] the most important predictor of how a child will do is the socio-economic status of their parents, but the second most important predictor is the socio-economic status of their class mates.” 

In his book Excluded: How Snob Zoning, NIMBYism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don’t See, Kahlenberg goes on to say “…over time researchers have found the effects of neighborhoods and poverty level of classmates trumped per pupil spending.”  That is, simply living in a middle-class neighborhood has more impact on low-income student educational outcomes (test scores, graduation rates, etc.) than how much money is spent on children who attend economically segregated schools.

It is not just the quality of the schools in middle-class neighborhoods that help low income and working-class children do better in school and life, but the cross-class friendships that develop as well.  Raj Chetty’s recent study makes this point specifically, arguing that according to his research, cross class friendships were “the single strongest predictor of upward mobility [of children] identified to date.”

This means in San Diego a crucial test of political bravery is willingness to fight NIMBYism.  More specifically, any true progressive must ask themselves if our representatives have been willing to take the heat from privileged home owners to support increased housing at ALL levels of affordability in ALL communities so that low-income children have a chance at a decent life.

By this definition, Mayor Gloria qualifies.  I find his support for the homeless camping ban disturbing; however, his opponent is even worse on this issue.  Larry Turner’s website says that any homeless shelter “must first be approved by local communities and businesses.”  This is a formula for NIMBY rejection.

More importantly, Mayor Gloria’s bravery in building housing in middle-class communities should be the key issue for those of us who claim to be progressive.  Gloria’s commitment to this essential solution to our housing crisis can be seen in his Second Housing Action Package that “allows for affordable homes to be located in areas with good job and school opportunities.”

 Mayor Gloria’s opponent has criticized this crucial plan as being “build baby build.” Right-wing forces are unifying behind this police officer turned politician who, for example, is getting a million dollars from the ultra-right-wing Lincoln Club.  Signs supporting this conservative politician are sprouting up like mushrooms in the white privileged areas of our city.

The fight in this election is against racial and class privilege; it is against the NIMBYism that has hamstrung any effort to build the homes that so many San Diegans desperately need.  Most importantly of all, this is a struggle for our most vulnerable children and the homes in good communities that provide security, a quality education, and a decent life that they deserve.   This is why re-electing Mayor Gloria is essential.

Gregg Robinson is a member of the San Diego County Board of Education, a long-time activist, retired Grossmont College Sociology professor, and a member of the AFT Guild, Local 1931 Retiree Chapter.