There is a bright spot, though, in San Diego. There, apartment construction is booming at the same time rents have fallen for the first time in 15 years. And it’s happened without a policy preoccupation on affordability. There’s a lesson here, if lawmakers are open to learning it.
California policymakers are obsessed with boosting “affordable housing,” which makes sense when housing in the state is out of reach to a large portion of its residents.
They’re trying to solve the problem from the wrong end, though. The supply of affordable housing is best expanded not by focusing on building homes with artificially cheap price tags but by increasing the construction pace of all homes.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Building more is the key to affordability
Kerry Jackson
There is a bright spot, though, in San Diego. There, apartment construction is booming at the same time rents have fallen for the first time in 15 years. And it’s happened without a policy preoccupation on affordability. There’s a lesson here, if lawmakers are open to learning it.
California policymakers are obsessed with boosting “affordable housing,” which makes sense when housing in the state is out of reach to a large portion of its residents.
They’re trying to solve the problem from the wrong end, though. The supply of affordable housing is best expanded not by focusing on building homes with artificially cheap price tags but by increasing the construction pace of all homes.
Read the entire op-ed here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.