View source for HousingWiki:About


HousingWiki is a open resource for gathering, developing, and discussing housing and land-use issues. Particularly, to gather ideas, research,&nbsp;and strategies for creating more inclusive, affordable, equitable housing and communities. It was formerly YIMBYwiki, and began as&nbsp;an affiliate project of [https://yimbyaction.org/ YIMBY Action], which is a member&nbsp;of the [http://www.sfyimby.org/ SFYIMBY] coalition, San Francisco.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

== Mission&nbsp; ==

Build the most usable, complete, and open online resource for understanding housing and land-use issues, and for working to&nbsp;create more inclusive and affordable communities.&nbsp;

''(informal):&nbsp;''the rebuttal, explainer, meme, & proposals factory.<br/> @YIMBYwiki, [https://twitter.com/YIMBYwiki/status/937077422716895232 2 Dec 2017].&nbsp;

YIMBYwiki‏&nbsp;@YIMBYwiki&nbsp;[https://twitter.com/YIMBYwiki/status/895261180243070976 5:31 AM - 9 Aug 2017]<br/> Replying to @TimLundSE26<br/> "yes, 'let the front lines build the strategies, we will systematize & internationalize.'&nbsp;is YIMBYwiki's imperial design."<br/> &nbsp;

== Sponsorship ==

YIMBYwiki was&nbsp;supported in 2017-18 by a grant from [http://betterboulder.com/ Better Boulder] and&nbsp;[http://www.baraonline.com/ Boulder Area Realtors Association]. We invite further financial support to continue and expand this project, please contact us at&nbsp;''editor&nbsp;(at) yimby.wiki''&nbsp;if you're interested.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

== Development Roadmap ==

'''[[Development_Roadmap|Development Roadmap]]''':<br/> to-do items and proposed or planned developments.

&nbsp;

== Background ==

This project grew out of&nbsp;a October 2016 discussion on the [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/yimbytown YIMBY Town] mailing list (US national YIMBY&nbsp;email list/forum):&nbsp;"[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/yimbytown/qUBbHOczybk The Opposition in Portland has Arrived]"&nbsp;(subsequently moved to&nbsp;"[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/yimbytown/71H8zBXFnI0 YIMBY knowledgebase/wiki (was The Opposition in Portland..)].&nbsp;in October 2016. 

As noted in thread, there have been various previous discussions about idea, and&nbsp;prior related efforts such as the YIMBY Sweden's&nbsp;[http://yimby.wikia.com/wiki/Yimby_Wiki YIMBY Wiki]&nbsp;(see also [https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://yimby.wikia.com/wiki/Yimby_Wiki&edit-text=&act=url English version via Google Translate]), and&nbsp;the&nbsp;[https://www.reddit.com/r/SFBARF/wiki/faq SFBARF&nbsp;FAQ] created by San Francisco Bay Area Renters Federation) on&nbsp;Reddit. In 2014, San Francisco housing-finance expert (and SFYIMBY friend!) Fay Darmawi suggested a "HousingWiki" in her article [http://www.housingfinance.com/policy-legislation/how-affordable-housing-can-make-a-name-for-itself-and-why_o "How Affordable Housing Can Make a Name for Itself (and Why)]” (''Affordable Housing Finance'', March 19, 2014).

On YIMBY Town list, Mike Schiraldi (San Francisco) wrote:&nbsp;<br/> ''"I don't want to get off on too much of a tangent, but one of the reasons it's so exciting to see nationwide YIMBY collaboration is that&nbsp;we can jointly build up a body of answers to frequent objections (both&nbsp;good-faith and bad-faith)....Any suggestions as to what sort of storage system might work for such&nbsp;a knowledgebase?"''

Following on these conversation, SFYIMBY member [[User:Tmccormick|Tim McCormick]] proposed and launched YIMBY.wiki, and continues to lead its development.&nbsp;<br/> &nbsp;

In the 2016 mailing-list discussion about starting this project, we debated between branding it with YIMBY vs leaving it more general such as Housing Wiki. The conclusion was to go with YIMBYwiki at least initially, on the idea of orienting to an inside/core community first and perhaps broadening later. So, the late 2019 decision to transition YIMBY.wiki into Housing.Wiki was sort of fulfilling an idea there from start.



&nbsp;

== Admin/editors: &nbsp; ==

Editor / Admin:<br/> Tim McCormick, Portland. (on site:&nbsp;[[User:Admin|Admin]]&nbsp;/ [[User:Tmccormick|Tmccormick]] )<br/> Email: editor (at) housing.wiki.&nbsp;

Contributing Editor:&nbsp;<br/> [[User:Eaymer|Elise Aymer]], Toronto.<br/> + You.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

== Editing/Creating pages ==

This is the legacy site, built with MediaWiki software (like Wikipedia uses). Experimentally, ''new pages are now being started as, and key older pages converted to, Google Docs'' instead: formatted in a common way and with common navigation headers tying them together, reached by subdomain URLs, i.e. links in the form '''https://[ArticleTitle].housing.wiki''', where [ArticleTitle] is the article title, with spaces removed, case insensitive. For example: https://socialhousing.housing.wiki.

To start or suggest a new page, copy HousingWiki page template GDoc and rename + edit it. Then contact editor@housing.wiki about how to incorporate it. It could be transferred so the GDoc is owned by HousingWiki, or it could remain owned by you. (so, effectively, this allows a type of decentralized / "federated wiki').

=== MediaWiki Editing tips & tricks ===

To stop text from flowing around an image: edit page in Source view place:
<pre><div style="clear: both"></div> 
</pre>

before the text that should start below the floating image.

&nbsp;

== Thanks for input & help from:&nbsp; ==

[http://Miraheze.org Miraheze], UK-based non-profit "with a mission to provide a free community-centric wiki farm," for excellent support in relaunching and hosting HousingWiki, March/April 2020, and ongoing help. 

Laura Clark -&nbsp;Executive Director of [https://yimbyaction.org/ YIMBY Action]&nbsp;(member org of&nbsp;[http://www.sfyimby.org/ SFYIMBY]).&nbsp;<br/> Mike Schiraldi<br/> Jesse Kanson-Benanav -&nbsp;Chairman, [http://www.abettercambridge.org A Better Cambridge].<br/> Laura Loe Bernstein -&nbsp;Founder, YIMBY Seattle.&nbsp;<br/> Ken Hotard -&nbsp;SVP at Boulder Area Realtor Association.<br/> Zane A. Selvans - YIMBY Town,&nbsp;Better Boulder,&nbsp;Boulder Housing Coalition, etc.&nbsp;<br/> &nbsp;

== Installation details ==

To see current complete installation details, see special page: [https://houssing.wiki/wiki/Special:Version https://housing.wiki/wiki/Special:Version].

Summary:&nbsp;


&nbsp;

== Manual backup procedure ==

Note, backup&nbsp;currently running automatically daily using a Crontab job on server, except for the part of transferring backup files back to a personal account for personal and Google Drive backup copy. But if you need to do it manually or reset up the Crontab job, below are the commands,&nbsp; shown prefaced by the shell prompt '%':&nbsp;
<pre>%  ssh yimbywiki@yimby.wiki</pre>

now enter password for account 'yimbywiki'.&nbsp;
<pre>% php yimby.wiki/maintenance/dumpBackup.php --full | gzip > ~/backup/wiki-yimby_wiki-XML-$(date +%Y%m%d).xml.gz</pre>

that puts a date-labeled backup file X.xml.gz into /backup
<pre>% cd backup 

% tar -zcvf "$(date '+%F').tar.gz" /home/yimbywiki/yimby.wiki

% mysqldump -u yimbywiki --password=XXXXXXXX --host=mysql.yimby.wiki yimby_wiki -c | gzip > ~/backup/wiki-yimby_wiki-$(date '+%Y%m%d').sql.gz</pre>

[note: replace XXXXXXXX with real database password].&nbsp;

To then retrive these backup files to personal computer, to store backups there and automatically on Google Drive:&nbsp;

Open terminal window.&nbsp;

Change to correct&nbsp;local directory, e.g.&nbsp;
<pre>% cd ~Users > tim > Google Drive > Tim > YIMBYwiki > site-backup</pre>

Now sftp to server:
<pre>% sftp yimbywiki@yimby.wiki
sftp>   cd backup
sftp>   get [1st backup file just created] 
sftp>   get [2nd backup file just created] 
sftp>   get [3rd backup file just created] </pre>

These will then in turn get backed up automatically by Google Backup and Sync / Google Drive, at least on Tim's computers.&nbsp;<br/> &nbsp;

&nbsp;