News and Commentary
Bernie Sanders, ever the enemy of Big-X, has repeated the popular claim that it is big tech that is responsible for the housing crisis in Silicon Valley. Christian Britschgi of Reason thoroughly debunks this claim, pointing out that high salaries wouldn’t be driving up housing costs if San Francisco and other Bay Area cities had more liberal land-use and zoning regulations, in addition to fewer opportunities for “greenmailing” and other litigation that halts housing development.
In October, New York City’s Department of Planning released its Geography of Jobs report, finding that while the NYC metro area has added about 924,000 jobs since 2008, it has only added 457,000 new housing units.
Following a brouhaha before DC’s Historic Preservation Review Board, residents will now be allowed to put solar panels on their homes.
Greater Greater Washington’s Alex Baca testified before the Washington, DC City Council on a bill to renew rent control. While she recognizes the arguments that rent control can, on the margins, reduce new housing construction and discourage residents of rent-controlled apartments from moving, she points out that in the context of DC, and many other major American cities, regulations that restrict new housing construction are a far greater threat to affordability and new supply.
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