Would you make 12 people homeless for 3 parking spots?
It sounds like a dark joke. In Oakland, California, it was just another Tuesday. The housing crisis isn't an accident—it’s a series of bad human decision-making and special interests that are at odds with common sense.
It's time we started making better decisions. It’s time somebody tells the story about why you can’t afford to live anywhere anymore.
So I’m writing a book about my years in the trenches, fighting so that people can afford to live where they work.
You don’t have to know diddly squat about housing to read this book. Even the most complicated subjects are illustrated through the stories of real people I’ve met in my advocacy work. They didn’t know anything about housing either when they started off, but they each found a way to improve the world and their situation in it. And in so doing, they each reveal some of what makes housing so expensive.
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“IN MY BACK YARD is a rare book that combines information about a social problem with information about what you can actually do to help fix it. You won’t leave this book hopeless... you’ll be empowered to take steps in the physical world that will have a lasting impact.”
The "Cupertino Confession" and Other Crimes of Bureaucracy
In a mind-numbing nine-hour city council meeting, something extraordinary happened: local officials casually described a decades-long scheme to prevent affordable housing—right there on camera.
We’ve been told the housing crisis is too big to fix. We’ve been told it’s just "the market." But from $1 million "affordable" apartments to billion-dollar bets on cow pastures, the truth is much stranger.
In My Back Yard takes you inside the rooms where these decisions happen—and shows you how to kick the door open.
From the Job Site to the State House
I’m Ryan O’Connell. You might know me from How To ADU, where I’ve helped a community of over 200,000 homeowners navigate the labyrinth of building new housing.
I’ve spent the last five years at the intersection of housing advocacy and real estate development. I’ve been at homeless advocacy sit-ins, private meetings with venture capitalists, and the floor of state legislatures. I wrote this book because I’m tired of watching people get priced out of their own lives by a system that nobody understands.
I’m not just reporting on the movement—I’m in the sweet spot between political theories and pouring foundations.
“New ideas need friends, and Ryan O’Connell has made many of them... His work doesn’t just document a movement; it expands its reach by making complex housing solutions compelling to both professionals and everyday people.”
…with a sense of humor
“People don’t NEED housing, that’s a liberal hoax. Ryan has written some real humanist, pro-housing, scientifically-backed PROPAGANDA that might convince you people deserve dignity. DON’T READ IT!”
This book won’t put you to sleep.
I have read dozens of books about housing and they can be a real slog for normal people to read. If you like the tone of my youtube videos which is more conversational, and focused on practical stories about real people, then you’ll love this book.
And while the housing crisis is weighty and real, I try not to take myself too seriously.
Or as one of my favorite YouTubers says:
The housing movement is growing. Don't just watch it—help build it.
Join 200,000+ others who are tired of the housing "doom loop." Sign up below to get launch updates and early access to the first chapter.
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