How does showing up help any activist campaign? Participation in these decisions is tiny (sometimes unilateral - one retired lawyer can set a project back years), many people don't know about the issue or don't have an opinion, those who do have opinions aren't necessarily showing up to speak and vote for them. Everyone notices the cost of housing, but few realize it's a political issue that they even could vote about.

In general the story is broad and diffuse support for more housing, tightly concentrated and intense opposition to particular projects. There are many more NIMBYs than BANANA.