Q. You have been called a “shameful nuisance,” among other insults. How do you respond to such criticism?
STEPHEN: In my opinion, we’re mostly upsetting the right people. If they see themselves in our critiques of NIMBYs, phony environmentalists, spreaders of misinformation, or people who have hijacked our local government in pursuit of their anti-growth and anti-change agenda, that says more about them than us. (I bet someone right now is reading that last sentence and getting upset!)
It’s actually been eye-opening to me how many people message us privately to say that they appreciate our work and to thank us for saying what they cannot say publicly. Often, these are people doing the Lord’s work, like actually building affordable housing in town. We have given so much weight to anti-housing voices here that people who build affordable housing are secretly rooting for us to speak up on behalf of more housing. That’s totally nuts!