While housing gets a lot of attention in California, land use and zoning reform is politically unpopular.
Land use and zoning is an extremely cost-effective way to impact economics, racial justice, and the environment. In California, the approach to housing is to invest in raising money for affordable housing, which doesn’t address the systemic root causes of the housing shortage. Meeting our housing needs just through subsidized affordable housing, in LA County alone, would cost more than 500 billion dollars. Additionally, a McKinsey Global Institute report estimates that the housing crisis is costing the California economy between 143 and 233 billion dollars per year. On the other hand, land use and zoning is basically free (other than the staff cost of implementing it) and has a major effect on affordability - https://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/removing_barriers_to_accessing_high_productivity_places
Abundant Housing focuses on opportunities to make a maximum impact with minimal resources. In 2019, the Coastal Plan we advocated for created housing targets for the region that would get us to national rates of rent-burden and overcrowding, as well as get our GHG emissions on track for state climate goals. That’s through advocacy in a single administrative process, which few people pay attention to.
Hi Gordon, thank you so much for your comments.
While housing gets a lot of attention in California, land use and zoning reform is politically unpopular.
Land use and zoning is an extremely cost-effective way to impact economics, racial justice, and the environment. In California, the approach to housing is to invest in raising money for affordable housing, which doesn’t address the systemic root causes of the housing shortage. Meeting our housing needs just through subsidized affordable housing, in LA County alone, would cost more than 500 billion dollars. Additionally, a McKinsey Global Institute report estimates that the housing crisis is costing the California economy between 143 and 233 billion dollars per year. On the other hand, land use and zoning is basically free (other than the staff cost of implementing it) and has a major effect on affordability - https://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/removing_barriers_to_accessing_high_productivity_places
Abundant Housing focuses on opportunities to make a maximum impact with minimal resources. In 2019, the Coastal Plan we advocated for created housing targets for the region that would get us to national rates of rent-burden and overcrowding, as well as get our GHG emissions on track for state climate goals. That’s through advocacy in a single administrative process, which few people pay attention to.