Jonathan O’Brien, Lead Organiser for YIMBY Melbourne, accused [the NIMBYs] of being “tone-deaf”, saying the proposal appeared to be compliant, and the apartments would get built. “Grandstanding against common-sense inner-city housing is just a really embarrassing look in 2026”

Building more homes works

“Old people don’t need places to live” say local NIMBYs. Plans to build a mid-rise retirement village on the site of an abandoned building received 51 formal objections in Vermont.

Falling house prices? That sounds like a good housing market to me...

Parliamentary inquiry into community consultation practices finds that local government ‘opt-in’ consultation is biased against renters and the young →

A massive victory in the war against upper-level setbacks! The Mid-Rise Code offers greater housing certainty for Melburnians. It also winds back one of the most damaging and poorly evidenced planning controls: upper-level setbacks.

Huge thanks to everyone who made our last event such a success. We heard from Brendan Coates and Alain Bertaud, followed by a panel joined by Jonathan O'Brien and Matthew Bowes (subbing in for Brendan).

TONIGHT 👇 Join Alain Bertaud (author of Order without Design) and Brendan Coates (Grattan Institute) to discuss how to make Australian cities work better for everyone. [Link to tickets in next tweet]

Are cities just giant labour markets? Alain Bertaud argues that cities should be designed by millions of individual trade-offs, not a single planner's estimated "average".

Melbourne's planning reforms are nation-leading 💪

💯 bang on the money. Younger Australians are facing worse and worse trade-offs in pursuit of housing affordability. To reverse intergenerational inequality, Governments must make our major cities accessible again.

Last week, our lead organiser, Jonathan O'Brien, was on A Current Affair. He argued that we should not empower a loud minority to block new homes being built where people want to live.

PRESS RELEASE → Whilst YIMBY Melbourne applauds the Coalition’s more positive housing vision, their plans leave too much to be desired.

[Hosted by our Lead Organiser — Jonathan O'Brien] Australia gives billions of dollars to charity each year. But the rules governing where those dollars can go are outdated and often misaligned with impact. Is the DGR system the biggest handbrake on Aussie charity? 👇

Help shape the future of Melbourne’s Activity Centres! Community Reference Groups (CRGs) are being formed right now to provide local feedback to the upzoning plans. If we want walkable, transit-oriented, and affordable neighbourhoods, we need YIMBYs in the room!

🚨 We're close to selling out again! Get your ticket now! Join Alain Bertaud (author of Order without Design) and Brendan Coates (Grattan Institute) to discuss how to make Australian cities work better for everyone. [Link to tickets in next tweet]

The final draft plans for Melbourne’s Activity Centre Program show a promising vision for housing where people want to live. But YIMBY Melbourne warns that restrictive minimum lot size rules could leave new homes on the drawing board.

🚨 Due to selling out, we’ve had to move to a larger venue! To celebrate the next 10 tickets will be sold at a discounted early bird price. Get them before they sell out!

One site, two permits, two radically different reactions. NIMBYs overwhelmingly weaponise the planning system against social housing. It's time to stop listening to NIMBYs and build more homes.

ANNOUNCEMENT → Order Without Design: How Markets Shape Cities — the Australian Tour Join Alain Bertaud (author of Order without Design) and Brendan Coates (Grattan Institute) to discuss how to make Australian cities work better for everyone. [Link to tickets in next tweet]

We do not build enough homes where people want to live. Why? Because our urban planning systems make it impossible. We need our planning system to say 'yes', not 'no'.

Commonwealth policy leaves young Australians locked out of community housing. The "youth housing penalty" is one of the factors behind the low rate of social housing tenancies being offered to young people, currently less than 3%. 👇

15 homes in Merri-bek turns into 3. This is how urban planning created the housing crisis.

Under current planning rules, most new apartments are forced onto our most polluted areas: main roads. Meanwhile, denser housing on our quieter and lesspolluted side streets is banned.

In 2023, a 3-storey apartment project was blocked as "underdevelopment". In 2025, on the same site, a 4-storey apartment project was blocked as "overdevelopment". Utter insanity. Our planning systems make it illegal to build any new homes.

Do you want to reduce carbon emissions? Try upzoning. Research shows detached houses produce 1.8-2.7x MORE greenhouse gases per person compared to apartments and townhouses.

It took twelve months, a VCAT hearing, a planning minister intervention and an expert panel to approve an “off-the-shelf” "fast-tracked" permit. This is what happens when you let local governments have free rein of the planning system. Lots of delays and no homes.

For decades, the loudest voices in planning were saying "No." We started YIMBY Melbourne to say "Yes." The Guardian credits that shift with driving a "planning policy revolution." Proof that when you show up with evidence & optimism, you can change policy!

This Victorian building has sat empty and derelict for five years. Owners had a plan to restore it and provide housing. Council planners gave it the green light. The majority of councillors voted to block it.

House prices are rising 1.5 times faster for properties below the 5% deposit guarantee price cap. Demand subsidies do not work. If you want to make housing cheaper, build more homes.

Build more homes → reduce rents

Did you know a single car park can add up to $70k to the cost of a new home? This is why the Victorian Government just made a massive change: they’ve scrapped mandatory parking minimums for homes near good public transport 👇

It's been a big year for YIMBY Melbourne and we couldn't have done it without your support → ✅ 3 research notes ✅ 11 events\workshops ✅ 50+ media appearances ✅ And many advocacy wins We wish you all a happy New Year!

New Research → Building more homes reduces displacement

Merry Christmas from the YIMBY Melbourne team 🎄

A NIMBY group in Thornbury claims they want “fair” growth, but their plan is anything but fair →

Restricting higher-density housing leads to ❌Less homes ❌Higher prices ❌More segregation 🧵

New apartments & townhouses are cheaper than the old detached houses they replace. We should allow cheaper housing options to be built where people want to live.

New research suggests restricting higher-density housing leads to → ❌Less homes ❌Higher prices ❌More segregation

PRESS RELEASE → Reducing parking mandates and standardising levies is a good step forward 🧵

Another day, another report saying that we need to upzone to improve housing affordability. It's time for policy makers to listen to the experts and get on with the job!

Melbourne is LESS dense than Los Angeles. If Melbourne were as dense as LA within the first 15km, we’d have an extra 431,000 homes!

The evidence overwhelmingly says that planning reforms lead to more and cheaper housing. 🧵

In 1999, it took 55 days to get a permit for 10 dwellings. In 2025, it took 302 days. These delays add more than $15k in costs per townhouse.

Most of our major cities have allowed fewer new homes in inner and middle-suburbs. Why? Because of restrictive planning controls.

Wealthier suburbs abuse the planning system to block new housing. Victoria's new Planning Amendment Bill aims to fix it.

YIMBY Melbourne congratulates Jess Wilson on becoming the youngest Leader of the Victorian Liberal Party. And any serious agenda for young people includes an ambitious pro-housing stance. And that means planning reform that puts young people first must be on the cards.

Our lead organiser, Jonathan O'Brien,about last week talked to Tom Elliot on 3AW why building 3-storey homes across Melbourne is a good idea 👇

In the 1980s, for the average woman, it would have taken 6 years of wages to purchase the average Brighton property. In 2025, despite radical improvements in gender pay, it would take the average woman nearly 33 years...

Australia’s dwelling stock used to grow much faster than the adult population. What happened? Restrictive planning controls happened.