Cities and counties in California are required to issue permits for a specific number of houses each year as a part of the state’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). The RHNA is calculated in cycles every four to eight years. There are specific goals for each income category:
- Very low-income
- Low-income
- Moderate-income
- Above moderate-income
The Orange County Register reports that for the cycle ending in 2020, cities and counties were tasked with permitting 1.16 million new homes. However, only 940,000 were permitted.
Of the homes that were permitted, only 18 percent of the required units for very low-income households were built, 26 percent of the low-income units, and 56 percent of the moderate-income units. Above moderate-income units were 43 percent above the state’s requirements.
A primary reason that cities and counties are falling shot of their mandates is single-family zoning, which makes it virtually impossible to build affordable housing for lower income households. Single-family zoning makes duplexes, triplexes, small apartment buildings, and other lower cost housing illegal. The only way for developers and builders to make a profit is by focusing on the above moderate-income category. And that is what they are doing.
Earlier this year, state legislators passed two bills that enable local jurisdictions to relax zoning laws. Many locales are refusing to issue permits for anything other than single-family homes. While the two bills are a small step in the right direction, they are hardly sufficient. What legislators should do is abolish single-family zoning throughout the state.
The only proper purpose of government is the protection of individual rights, including property rights. Zoning prohibits landowners from using their property as they deem best. Zoning violates the owner’s right to produce, use, and trade material values, i.e., the owner’s right to property. If local governments pass laws that violate individual rights, the state government has a responsibility to overturn those laws, just as the federal government overturns unconstitutional state laws.
Zoning is founded on a command and control mentality. That approach is why the state faces such a severe housing crisis. However, in mandating housing goals, the state is embracing the same command and control mentality. The numbers are demonstrating that command and control doesn’t work any better on the state level than it has locally.
California should reject command and control. It its place, the state should embrace a policy of liberation and empowerment. The state should liberate property owners from the arbitrary dictates of land-use regulations and empower property owners to find innovative solutions to the state’s housing problems.