Housing
Blog
A simple few steps to provide more affordable, safer housing
A simple few steps to provide more affordable, safer housing By Sal Rodriguez | February 6, 2026 Over the past few years, states and cities across the country have moved to cut red tape around their housing markets in order to spur greater supply and, in the long run, control ...
Blog
Housing costs drove the majority of nation’s fertility drop
The top reason ex-Californians cite for leaving is housing costs — 890,000 exiters over the past decade named the cost of housing as their primary reason for leaving, compared to 514,000 for work and 329,000 for family. The National Taxpayers Union estimates outmigration costs California $4.5 billion in lost tax revenue each ...
Blog
Trump and Newsom are odd bedfellows on housing policy
Now that many populist Republicans have largely abandoned free-market conservatism, it’s getting hard to distinguish dopey Democratic policy ideas from dopey Republican ones. Apparently, the Horseshoe Theory — where each end of the political spectrum is separated by the distance between the ends of a horseshoe rather than at the ends ...
Blog
Revisiting an age-old issue: How good is zoning?
Revisiting an age-old issue: How good is zoning? By R.C. Hoiles | December 26, 2025 As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Pacific Research Institute is spotlighting leading Western thinkers in the nation’s history. This column was written by The Orange County Register publisher and president of Freedom Communications ...
Blog
It’s surprising, but Oakland’s lefty mayor embraces deregulation
It’s surprising, but Oakland’s lefty mayor embraces deregulation By Sal Rodriguez | December 12, 2025 Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee gets it. The longtime progressive former Congress member has taken a hatchet to the regulatory thicket that’s hindered true progress in Oaktown. “The city has transformed its permitting process with same-day ...
Blog
After balking, Fresno rightly OKs housing-streamlining compromise
after balking, fresno oks housing-streamlining compromise by Sal Rodriguez | December 5, 2025 (Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated from the article originally published on December 5 to reflect Fresno’s recent action on the issue.) The answer to the housing shortage plaguing cities across the country isn’t really that ...
Blog
LA apartment builders pull back as bureaucracy, taxes take toll
LA apartment builders pull back as bureaucracy, taxes take toll By Kerry Jackson | November 25, 2025 Los Angeles needs more apartments. No one will argue otherwise. Developers want to build more units to meet the demand. It’s what they do. But not in Los Angeles. A third party that should play ...
Blog
Will California Finally Overhaul CEQA?
In response, state lawmakers passed AB130 and SB131 this session, a package of bills which exempted various housing developments from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review and provided streamlined review for developments which would have qualified for exemption but for one disqualifying condition. Luis Quiñonez, President of the California Foundation ...
Blog
Denver wisely repeals its minimum parking mandates
Denver wisely repeals its minimum parking mandates By Sal Rodriguez | November 7, 2025 The post-World War II years brought with it many things Americans have taken for granted: economic prosperity, suburban living and minimum parking requirements. Along with the growing prevalence of personal vehicles through the 1950s and 1960s ...
Blog
Corporate home buyers are not ‘plundering’ U.S. neighborhoods
Tucker Carlson, for one, has been for years carping about corporations buying single-family homes. In 2021, when he still had a show on Fox News, Carlson objected to “private-equity firms like BlackRock” buying “entire neighborhoods of single-family homes and turning them into rentals.” His guest that evening was Chronicles Magazine’s Pedro Gonzalez, ...
A simple few steps to provide more affordable, safer housing
A simple few steps to provide more affordable, safer housing By Sal Rodriguez | February 6, 2026 Over the past few years, states and cities across the country have moved to cut red tape around their housing markets in order to spur greater supply and, in the long run, control ...
Housing costs drove the majority of nation’s fertility drop
The top reason ex-Californians cite for leaving is housing costs — 890,000 exiters over the past decade named the cost of housing as their primary reason for leaving, compared to 514,000 for work and 329,000 for family. The National Taxpayers Union estimates outmigration costs California $4.5 billion in lost tax revenue each ...
Trump and Newsom are odd bedfellows on housing policy
Now that many populist Republicans have largely abandoned free-market conservatism, it’s getting hard to distinguish dopey Democratic policy ideas from dopey Republican ones. Apparently, the Horseshoe Theory — where each end of the political spectrum is separated by the distance between the ends of a horseshoe rather than at the ends ...
Revisiting an age-old issue: How good is zoning?
Revisiting an age-old issue: How good is zoning? By R.C. Hoiles | December 26, 2025 As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Pacific Research Institute is spotlighting leading Western thinkers in the nation’s history. This column was written by The Orange County Register publisher and president of Freedom Communications ...
It’s surprising, but Oakland’s lefty mayor embraces deregulation
It’s surprising, but Oakland’s lefty mayor embraces deregulation By Sal Rodriguez | December 12, 2025 Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee gets it. The longtime progressive former Congress member has taken a hatchet to the regulatory thicket that’s hindered true progress in Oaktown. “The city has transformed its permitting process with same-day ...
After balking, Fresno rightly OKs housing-streamlining compromise
after balking, fresno oks housing-streamlining compromise by Sal Rodriguez | December 5, 2025 (Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated from the article originally published on December 5 to reflect Fresno’s recent action on the issue.) The answer to the housing shortage plaguing cities across the country isn’t really that ...
LA apartment builders pull back as bureaucracy, taxes take toll
LA apartment builders pull back as bureaucracy, taxes take toll By Kerry Jackson | November 25, 2025 Los Angeles needs more apartments. No one will argue otherwise. Developers want to build more units to meet the demand. It’s what they do. But not in Los Angeles. A third party that should play ...
Will California Finally Overhaul CEQA?
In response, state lawmakers passed AB130 and SB131 this session, a package of bills which exempted various housing developments from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review and provided streamlined review for developments which would have qualified for exemption but for one disqualifying condition. Luis Quiñonez, President of the California Foundation ...
Denver wisely repeals its minimum parking mandates
Denver wisely repeals its minimum parking mandates By Sal Rodriguez | November 7, 2025 The post-World War II years brought with it many things Americans have taken for granted: economic prosperity, suburban living and minimum parking requirements. Along with the growing prevalence of personal vehicles through the 1950s and 1960s ...
Corporate home buyers are not ‘plundering’ U.S. neighborhoods
Tucker Carlson, for one, has been for years carping about corporations buying single-family homes. In 2021, when he still had a show on Fox News, Carlson objected to “private-equity firms like BlackRock” buying “entire neighborhoods of single-family homes and turning them into rentals.” His guest that evening was Chronicles Magazine’s Pedro Gonzalez, ...
