That goal may sound reasonable on paper. In practice, CEQA has increasingly become a tool for obstructing housing development, exacerbating California’s housing shortage and keeping costs stubbornly high.
Lower mortgage rates would unquestionably give buyers some relief. But relying on a return to historically unusual 3–4% mortgages is not much of a strategy for young families today.
When governments force specific terms of employment on businesses, they prevent individuals and businesses from negotiating the terms that best suit their circumstances.
In one city, the government imposes land-use regulations that make those types of housing difficult or impossible to build. In another, property owners have much more freedom to subdivide their land and build the housing they want.
If restaurants truly tried to levy exorbitant prices that were beyond their customers’ willingness to pay, they would lose business. This phenomenon has been witnessed time and time again.
