{"id":7823,"date":"2018-08-18T19:12:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T19:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/?p=7823"},"modified":"2018-08-18T19:12:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T19:12:48","slug":"california-cities-unlivable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/blog\/2018\/08\/california-cities-unlivable\/","title":{"rendered":"Why California Cities Are Becoming Unlivable – Article by Andrew Berryhill"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
Andrew Berryhill<\/span>
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California has the highest poverty rate in the U.S. and is rated dead last in quality of life.<\/em><\/p>\n

In July, the mayor of San Francisco frankly\u00a0stated<\/a>\u00a0that poverty in the city is so bad, that \u201cthere is more feces on the sidewalks than I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d And it\u2019s not just her \u2013 the local\u00a0NBC<\/i>\u00a0investigative unit\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0a \u201cdangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces throughout downtown San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

While such conditions are thankfully not widespread, California still has the\u00a0highest<\/i>\u00a0rate of poverty<\/a>\u00a0of any state when factoring in living costs and is\u00a0rated<\/a>\u00a0dead last<\/i>\u00a0for quality of life. It\u2019s no wonder that from 2007 to 2016, California\u00a0lost a million residents<\/a>\u00a0on net to domestic migration.<\/p>\n

This plight may appear counterintuitive since California\u2019s economy is booming. If the state were an independent country, its economy would rank as the\u00a05th<\/sup>\u00a0largest in the world<\/a>. However, a high GDP does not necessarily entail socioeconomic wellbeing.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the main problem ailing California and creating such a high cost of living?<\/p>\n

Housing Costs<\/b><\/p>\n

How bad are housing costs? The\u00a0median price<\/a>\u00a0of a home in California is over $600,000 (compared with $300,000\u00a0nationally<\/a>) and a recent\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0found that:<\/p>\n

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\u201cAcross California, more than 4 in 10 households had unaffordable housing costs, exceeding 30 percent of household income, in 2015. More than 1 in 5 households statewide faced severe housing cost burdens, spending more than half of their income toward housing expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Housing costs are so high that in San Francisco and San Mateo counties the government\u00a0considers<\/a>\u00a0a household of four making $105,350 as \u201clow income\u201d.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just low and middle-income families that are suffering \u2013 even many \u201celite\u201d technology workers can barely make ends meet. Lucrative six-figure salaries don\u2019t go far when you live in the\u00a0most expensive housing markets in America<\/a>\u00a0while also paying some of the highest\u00a0taxes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can save money by living in the suburbs, but multi-hour commutes in soul-crushing traffic may await. Is such an arrangement worth it? Many have said \u201cno\u201d and moved to other states. While their new jobs elsewhere might pay less, other benefits more than make up for it.<\/p>\n

But why is the housing situation in California so terrible?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to simply say \u201csupply and demand\u201d \u2013 so many people have moved to cities that housing construction can\u2019t keep up, causing real estate prices and rents to skyrocket.<\/p>\n

However, this invites an important question: why can\u2019t residential developers build fast enough?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Regulations<\/b><\/p>\n

Regulations play an especially large role in the San Francisco Bay Area, which shockingly\u00a0includes<\/a>\u00a015 of the 30 cities with the highest rents in the country. One\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0explains these struggles well:<\/p>\n

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For new housing developments in San Francisco, there\u2019s a preliminary review, which takes six months.<\/p>\n

Then there are also chances for your neighbors to appeal your permit on either an entitlement or environmental basis. The city also requires extensive public notice of proposed projects even if they already meet neighborhood plans, which have taken several years of deliberation to produce. Neighbors can appeal your project for something as insignificant as the shade of paint. . .<\/p>\n

If those fail, neighborhood groups can also file a CEQA or environmental lawsuit under California state law, challenging the environment impact of the project. . .<\/p>\n

Then if that fails, opponents can put a development directly on a citywide ballot with enough signatures. . . That\u2019s\u00a0what happened with the controversial 8 Washington luxury condo project<\/a>\u00a0last November even though it had already gone through eight\u00a0years of\u00a0deliberation.<\/p>\n

These barriers add unpredictable costs and years of delays for every developer, which are ultimately passed onto buyers and renters. It also means that\u00a0developers have problems attracting capital financing in weaker economic years because of the political uncertainty around getting a project passed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Why aren\u2019t politicians working to fix this? Self-preservation. Here\u2019s the unfortunate\u00a0reality<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe reason the San Francisco city government won\u2019t fix things that seem obvious . . . is because it fears a backlash from the hundreds of neighborhood associations that blanket the city and can reliably turn people out to the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Community Sentiment<\/b><\/p>\n

This cultural opposition to development is not a modern\u00a0phenomenon<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cSan Francisco\u2019s orientation towards growth control has 50 years of history behind it and more than 80 percent of the city\u2019s housing stock is either owner-occupied or rent controlled. The city\u2019s height limits, its rent control and its formidable permitting process are all products of tenant, environmental and preservationist movements that have arisen and fallen over decades.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Development proposals have been shot down for reasons ranging from\u00a0burrowing owl protection<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0complaints<\/a>\u00a0that the size of new residential buildings will block sunshine and thereby \u201cdevalue human life\u201d.<\/p>\n

The power of this \u201cNot In My Back Yard\u201d (NIMBY) movement has been considerable, but counter-movements are growing. When one homeowner recently complained in a Berkeley city council meeting that a proposed residential building would block sunshine for her zucchini garden, one young woman angrily\u00a0responded<\/a>: \u201cYou\u2019re talking about zucchinis? Really? Because I\u2019m struggling to pay rent.\u201d Young workers facing unaffordable rents are increasingly fed up with petty opposition to more affordable housing.<\/p>\n

However, Californian cities still seem more preoccupied with banning\u00a0straws<\/a>,\u00a0cocktail swords<\/a>,\u00a0scooters<\/a>,\u00a0delivery robots<\/a>, and\u00a0workplace cafeterias<\/a>.\"\"<\/a>Even when politicians try to help, they frequently ignore the root causes of the issue. For example, California Representative Kamala Harris recently proposed a bill called the \u201cRent Relief Act\u201d that would provide a tax credit for people spending over 30 percent of their income on rent.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Harris\u2019 proposal only addresses symptoms of an underlying disease and would almost certainly be\u00a0counterproductive<\/a>. It doesn\u2019t encourage more housing construction, which is the only real solution.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Until sweeping housing reform to enable residential development is passed at the state and local levels, Californians will keep fleeing to Texas, Nevada, and Arizona. I don\u2019t blame them.<\/p>\n

Andrew Berryhill is an Alcuin Fellow at Intellectual Takeout and a rising senior at Hillsdale College majoring in economics. Andrew has interned on Capitol Hill and was a research fellow for Hillsdale’s economics department. In his spare time, he enjoys practicing the violin and playing golf.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This post (“Why California Cities Are Becoming Unlivable<\/a>“) was originally published on Intellectual Takeout<\/a> by Andrew Berryhill.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Berryhill ****************************** California has the highest poverty rate in the U.S. and is rated dead last in quality of life. In July, the mayor of San Francisco frankly\u00a0stated\u00a0that poverty in the city is so bad, that \u201cthere is more feces on the sidewalks than I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d And it\u2019s not just her \u2013 the local\u00a0NBC\u00a0investigative unit\u00a0found\u00a0a \u201cdangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces throughout downtown San Francisco.\u201d While such conditions are thankfully not widespread, California still has the\u00a0highest\u00a0rate…<\/p>\n

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