How California's housing shortage chases away the middle class
By Ethan Elkind
Next 10, a nonpartisan research entity (with whom I’ve worked on studies in the past), released a trio of reports that shows how California’s housing shortage and resulting high prices have chased middle class and low-wage residents out of the state:
While conservatives love to blame environmental laws for gutting the industries that support these kinds of workers, the data indicate that high housing costs dwarfs all other taxes as a drag on these workers. For many of them, they'd rather take a lower-paying job in a place with cheaper housing than get paid more in high-cost California.
It would be great if conservatives (and progressives) would focus their ire on the policies that restrict in-state housing, namely local zoning and height restrictions and Prop 13.
I won't hold my breath though.
Cross-posted from Ethan Elkind's blog.