The Changing Dynamics of Community Opposition to Human Service Facilities

Abstract

Community opposition is an increasingly common response to the siting of controversial human service facilities. This paper explores the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome by presenting an analysis of the first national survey of attitudes toward controversial human services conducted in the United States. The analysis focuses on the volatility and synergy of attitude change, the degree of regionalization of rejecting and accepting attitudes, the differences between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan responses, and the perceived exclusionary nature of suburban respondents. The results indicate that the dynamics of community opposition consist of client, community, and facility variations significantly influenced by regional context and the spatial location of respondents.