A new regional housing advocacy group met Tuesday, bringing together planners, renters, homeowners, and community advocates to discuss all things housing.

The Fresno YIMBY group — Yes-In-My-Backyard, as opposed to “NIMBY” — held its inaugural meeting with the goal of joining the statewide YIMBY chapter. California YIMBY advocates for policies that promote housing construction.

Led by organizer Drew Phelps, he said the first meeting brought together a diverse group of people.

“This was exactly what I hoped the first meeting would be,” said Phelps. “We had people from throughout the region who came with different experiences and perspectives, but there was a lot of agreement around the idea that housing policy has to move beyond broad goals and into the details of what actually makes housing easier or harder to build.”

Phelps runs a land use and planning consulting firm in Fresno.

How to Adapt Housing Policies for the Central Valley

The group will focus on using research, education and advocacy to produce “practical results,” according to a news release. Recognizing that housing issues vary from region to region, discussions surrounded local barriers to housing, Phelps said.

He said that while city plans and code may intend to encourage housing on paper, they can be hindrances to getting homes built. Sometimes a minor change can be enough to get people into homes faster.

“The Valley is not the Bay Area or Los Angeles, and we shouldn’t expect every housing solution developed elsewhere to translate perfectly here,” Phelps said. “But there is a lot we can learn from successful work around the state. The opportunity is to combine those lessons with people who understand our communities and then focus on a few things where we can realistically make progress.”

The group plans to meet in a month to begin narrowing the first priorities and build out the organization.