How California chose to become unaffordable | Washington Examiner
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) would rather lie on national television than admit that California is losing population to other states, but the fact is California has been a net exporter of people for years and the story of one apartment building in Los Angeles shows why.
Sixteen years ago, a housing nonprofit organization called A Community of Friends was given land by the city of Los Angeles to build a 49-unit apartment building that would set aside some units for people with mental health problems or who had been homeless.
First the builders had to get approval for the project from their city councilman, Jose Huizar, who demanded more commercial space in the building. Then they had to get approval from the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council, where nearby business owners protested that they did not want mentally ill residents in the neighborhood.
While the neighborhood council eventually voted with the builders, the business owners then sued using the California Environmental Quality Act to stop the project. They claimed that the environmental review, which had taken a year by itself, didn't properly account for an abandoned oil well. After years of litigation, the builders eventually settled with the business owners out of court.
All throughout the process, the price tag for the building kept going up as the state kept adding on expensive mandates like higher energy-efficiency standards and bike storage.
"We're really committed to things like climate change and we're very committed to transit-oriented development," nonprofit low-income housing builder Linda Mandolini told the Wall Street Journal. "But those goals don't come for free."
It is true. Commitments to things like climate change and public transit are not free. They do make everything more expensive.
Maybe, as more and more people leave, Californians will change and start prioritizing affordability over the environment. Problem is, it is those middle-class families that value affordability that end up leaving. And then all you're left with are rich Californians who don't care about affordability and their poor servant class.
Absolutely nothing related to Trump or MAGA.
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No fascist bullshit.
Stay on topic.
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Well over 16 years to build 49 units.
At this rate, what with more folks leaving than arriving in California, it should have solved it's "housing crisis" in, say, 2-3 hundred years.
Something to look forward for Californians, I guess.
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please don't respond to off topic comments, it simply encourages others.
I did not flag you.
Both Texas and Florida are shit holes. BOTH LOSING POPULATION AS FAST AS THE GOLDEN STATE !
Now, now, that is a false statement.
Best check your "facts" again.
Wouldn't want you doubling down on being wrong again.
California can not change as long as they keep electing idiot Democrats to lead them.
I think they are fine with that. If you are going to design a government to accomplish that, it would look just like Californias.
It seems there are more crazy people in California than sane ones.