Offsetting Risk in a Neoliberal Environment: The Link between Asset-Based Welfare and NIMBYism

Affordable housing policy in the developed world has been undergoing a systematic commodification for several decades, including push homeownership as normalized tenure and commodity unto itself. Scholars suggest this is part parcel of neoliberal asset-based welfare to supplement, or even outright replace, traditionally defined benefit pension schemes. These policies individualize risk re-fashion individual citizens long-term financial planners, navigating uncertainty inherent international markets general management. Less deeply explored, however, are perverse incentives system creates homeowners protect their home “investment” by leveraging planning policies, zoning, land-use restrictions preserve community status quo lock value home. In environment which individualized public social systems relegated smallest number individuals possible, type NIMBYism (Not My Backyard) rather rational behavior, it simultaneously staunches supply new drives up prices non-homeowners. As such, analysis synthesizes existing research make formal theoretical connection between commodified housing, welfare, intractable political problem NIMBYism.