California Housing Development Remains Abysmal despite Reforms. Here’s What’s Missing

The median Los Angeles home sold for $849,000 last year, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. Meanwhile, one of California’s signature zoning reforms of the past few years, Senate Bill 9, appears to be having at best a desultory effect on new housing supply, the shortage of which is driving prices upward.

Los Angeles and other California metropolises need abundant housing to become affordable, and they can get it only by empowering private developers to build significant projects. The fundamental flaw of SB 9 is that it allows individual homeowners to add one or two units at most to their properties, and that is no way to build enough housing to increase affordability.

Continue reading the entire piece here at the Los Angeles Times

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Edward L. Glaeser is the Glimp professor of economics at Harvard University, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and contributing editor at City Journal.

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