See, expensive, hard-to-find housing used to be considered a regional problem. Sure, you can’t find an affordable apartment in San Francisco or NYC, but if push comes to shove, you can always find a cheap house in Michigan, right?
Wrong.
“Now California’s problem is everywhere. Double-income couples with good jobs are priced out of homeownership in Spokane, Wash. Homeless encampments sprawl in Phoenix. The rent is too damn high in Kalamazoo. The housing crisis has moved from blue states to red states, and large metro areas to rural towns.”
Why? “The Great Recession broke the U.S. housing market.” Before 2008? Two million homes a year were built in the US. After 2008? - 1.1 million a year.
People used to move for jobs. Now, one of the primary reasons people move is to find cheaper housing.
One of California’s largest exports is home-buyers driving up prices everywhere.
And the housing shortage is entirely man-made. There’s no shortage of wood. There’s no shortage of labor. There’s no shortage of money. And there’s no shortage of land - L.A. is dotted with empty lots and 100-year-old empty, obsolete buildings. And there’s never been a shortage of paying tenants.
It’s just so hard and too expensive to build anything new. I’ve watched and waited for 15 years for this building to go up on Sunset.
