Early in the pandemic, Los Angeles (along with many other cities around the country) enacted an eviction moratorium. That moratorium is set to expire at the end of this month, nearly three years after it was first imposed on landlords. The Los Angeles Times opines that the city should continue existing “tenant protections” and add to them. The Times believes that throwing gasoline on the fire is the solution to the city’s housing crisis.
LA’s housing crisis is a creation of the city and state government. Environmental regulations have removed countless acres of land from development. Single-family zoning has made it illegal to build the type of housing Californians want and need in the locations they want to live. A litany of regulations and taxes have driven up the cost of living. Unable to grasp the fact that government controls and regulations created the housing crisis, the paper calls for more government controls and regulations. In doing so, the Times proves that Ayn Rand was correct when she wrote, “Concrete problems cannot even be grasped, let alone judged or solved, without reference to abstract principles.”
To its credit, the editorial does state that the long-term solution is to build more housing for people at all income levels, which it correctly notes will “ease demand and stabilize prices.” However, it is one thing to say build more housing, and quite another thing to identify why that hasn’t happened.
Having long ago abandoned principles, both the Times and the LA City Council don’t even know what the problem is. Homelessness and sky-high housing prices are not the problem—they are a symptom of the problem. The problem is government intervention. The problem is government attempting to dictate how Californians—including housing producers—can work and live.
Those of us who embrace rational principles can see both the problem and the solution. Government controls, regulations, and taxes are the problem. The solution is to remove the controls and regulations and reduce taxes significantly. The solution is to restore freedom to Californians.
Of course, this won’t comport well with those who think that more government can be and should be the solution to any problem. They will continue to enact new controls and regulations while clinging to the delusion that somehow they will get it right this time. They won’t because they are just throwing gasoline on the fire.