I’m not proud to say this: I was a NIMBY. I told myself – and I actually told the town at a town meeting – that it was not in our interests to have affordable housing for seniors built in a field whose right-of-way was adjacent to my property. I said that its entrance would be “an accident waiting to happen” as cars came down the hill of my street. Another NIMBY said that the stone wall separating my yard from the access road was “historically significant.” Against our and other objections, the housing was built.

Today, that town in New Hampshire is unaffordable to most young people, teachers and service workers. It is paying the price dearly in its taxes. But there is a place where people on a fixed income and who have lived in town and want to stay there can go. It’s a lovely place, and it was in my backyard.

Barbara Conroy
Portland