When Cody Fischer decided to get into real estate development, he had a vision. He wanted to build affordable, energy efficient apartments in Minneapolis, not far from where he grew up. His vision was well-timed because, in 2019, Minneapolis's city council passed one of the most ambitious housing plans in the nation. One aim of that plan was to alleviate the city's housing shortage by encouraging developers like Cody to build, build, build. But when Cody tried to build, he ran into problems. The kinds of problems that arise all over the country when cities confront a short supply of housing, and try to build their way out. Today on the show, NIMBYism, YIMBYism and why it's so hard to fix the housing shortage. Told through the story of two apartment buildings in Minneapolis. This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Kenny Malone. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and Sofia Shchukina, and edited by Molly Messick. It was engineered by James Willets and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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Real estate developer Cody Fisher and I are standing facing a big old house.
We're at the intersection of Minnehaha Avenue and 36th street in south Minneapolis.
The house has got brown stucco and yellow siding.
To me, it looks, I don't know, like a big house with yellow siding on a corner lot.
To Cody, this looks like a great.
Place to build Minnehaha.
It's a busier street with dedicated bike lanes, high frequency transit.
When you mean high frequency transit, I picture something amazing.
But you're just talking about buses, right?
Yes.
Yeah, I am.
That's the advocate in me.
Yeah.
Cody seems to be one of those relentlessly optimistic types.