Is California’s Affordable Housing Problem Finally Solved?
In the past 20 years I have seen plan after plan, article after article discussing California’s intractable affordable housing crisis. The talk, the noise, their defining of the problem is maddening. There is only ONE REAL solution to the affordable housing crisis in California (or anywhere for that matter). BUILD MORE HOUSING OF ALL TYPES. Yes, it is the same old economic law of “supply and demand”. Consider if California were to magically build 5,000,000 new homes, condos, and apartments tomorrow what would that do to the price of housing throughout the state? You got it: it would plummet! But understand that the real culprit behind affordable housing is State and Local housing over-regulation. Look at CBIA’s Housing Killers and Creators list to see just this year’s over-regulation. In 1996 the San Diego Building Industry Association commissioned the “Smith Family House” Study. It found that over 24% of the cost of a home in Carlsbad, California was simply local and state regulations compliance. So, the next time you drive through Los Angeles or San Francisco on the 5 freeway and see miles and miles of homeless encampments and tents, remember there is a solution to this horrible problem – build more housing of all types.
