February 6, 2026
Cease-and-build season
NIMBYs Aren't Just Shutting Down Housing
Bar complaint sparks YIMBY vs NIMBY brawl; ‘YIYBY!’ vs ‘are you even local?’
TLDR: YIMBY Law’s letters pushed a SoCal city toward upzoning 647 homes, then drew a bar complaint claiming unlicensed lawyering. Commenters split between cheering legal pressure to build and blasting “YIYBY” outsiders, turning a housing win into a wider fight over free speech and local control.
YIMBY Law (Yes In My Backyard) says it helped unlock 647 homes in wealthy Rancho Palos Verdes by sending two pointed letters reminding the city of California housing rules like SB 9 and the “builder’s remedy”. Then the plot twist: a local opponent filed a complaint with the state bar accusing YIMBY Law’s leader of practicing law without a license. Civil liberties lawyers fired back that letter-writing is protected free speech and the right to petition the government. Cue internet cage match.
The hottest thread wasn’t “what is the law,” it was “who gets to use it.” One camp blasted the group as YIYBY — Yes In Your Backyard, accusing outsiders of muscling cities from afar. “Are you even from here?” became the recurring clapback, with users asking if the letter-writers live in RPV. On the other side, defenders cheered the letters as common sense: if a city’s breaking state law, someone has to call it out. Calls of “silencing activists” versus “stop lawyering without a license” flew, while one poster turned the whole thing into a meme: “They’re not just x. They’re y.”
Translation for non-policy folks: this is a turf war over who controls housing—local councils or statewide rules—and whether a sternly worded letter is democracy-in-action or overreach. Drama level: mailbox on fire.
Key Points
- •YIMBY Law influenced Rancho Palos Verdes to approve an upzoning enabling 647 homes by sending letters citing state housing law obligations and possible litigation.
- •A complaint was filed with the State Bar of California alleging Sonja Trauss practiced law without a license by providing legal analysis in a March 17, 2025 letter to the city.
- •Trauss argues the letters are protected under the First Amendment’s free speech and petition clauses; the Institute for Justice supported this position in a response to the bar.
- •YIMBY Law regularly sends compliance letters referencing mechanisms like SB 9, the builder’s remedy, and the Housing Accountability Act; most do not result in lawsuits as cities opt to comply.
- •The group references prior cases, including Lafayette, and is currently suing the State of California over a governor’s executive order restricting duplexes in areas affected by the Palisades fire.