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YIMBY data projects, between naps

Authors
jez
Source
Hacker News
Published
Collection
Software Intelligence
Coding AgentsCivic DataAutomated Software ProductionHuman AI InteractionLocal Government Data
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Summary

The post describes three small YIMBY civic data projects built with Claude Code during short parenting breaks. Its main claim is that coding agents let one person turn public local data into shareable webpages for housing debates in a few hours.

Problem

  • Local housing meetings in San Mateo include empirical claims about permitting speed, school enrollment, and transit-oriented zoning capacity.
  • Residents need cited, local evidence they can share at hearings without waiting for a journalist, consultant, grant, or GIS specialist.
  • The problem matters because local land-use arguments often shape housing supply, school planning, and transit-area zoning.

Approach

  • The author used Claude Code to find public datasets, write code, and publish small web projects on GitHub Pages.
  • One project ranks 22 Peninsula cities using California HCD annual progress report data, including construction permitting speed, RHNA progress, ADU compliance, and jurisdiction-level friction scores.
  • A second project plots San Mateo County school districts by housing permits issued in 2021-2025 and enrollment change since 2018.
  • A third project maps parcel-level capacity under California SB 79 near qualifying transit stops, using density rules of 160 dwelling units per acre within 200 feet, 120 within a quarter mile, and 100 within a half mile.

Results

  • The post reports 3 public civic data projects, each built in a handful of hours across short work sessions.
  • The permit tracker covers 22 Peninsula cities and makes their permitting speed, RHNA progress, and ADU compliance sortable for public comparison.
  • The enrollment project finds a flat to slightly negative relationship between housing permits from 2021-2025 and enrollment change since 2018; every San Mateo County district shown is below the zero-enrollment-growth line.
  • The author claims Redwood City and South San Francisco permitted hundreds of units while showing enrollment declines similar to Hillsborough and Portola Valley, which built almost no housing.
  • The SB 79 map estimates net-new housing capacity near transit using 3 density bands: 160, 120, and 100 dwelling units per acre.
  • The excerpt gives no benchmarked software-engineering metrics, user study, or controlled comparison against non-agent workflows.

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