Let’s Pay Californians to Move

Relocation Subsidies Could Solve Housing Gridlock and Make This State a Better Place to Live

Are you a Californian who wants to make your state a better place?

Then move.

Any place within California will do, though it would be great if you could relocate to a city or county near yours. Or, even better, stay in your own neighborhood and make the leap to a different apartment or house nearby.

Why am I asking you to go through the hassle of boxing and unboxing, and the emotional challenges of leaving one place for another? Because moving serves both private and public purposes. It often improves your circumstances—finding …

A granny flat in Sacramento

Will Granny Flats Replace Green Lawns in California’s Backyards?

Historic Deregulation Is Freeing Homeowners to Build in Hopes of Easing the Growing Housing Crisis

A snarky reader, annoyed at some praise of California’s governor in this space, recently asked: Where exactly do I keep my shrine to Gavin Newsom?

My answer: In the same place …

Want More Affordable Homes? Make Politicians Sleep in Their Own Plans | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Want More Affordable Homes? Make Politicians Sleep in Their Own Plans

Who Better to Experience the Disruptions of Housing Policies Than the Californians Who Made Them?

Most Californians agree that housing is the state’s biggest crisis. But we have nothing resembling a consensus on how best to address it.

Up in Sacramento, our leaders have come up …

Even Kafka Couldn’t Dream up California’s Surreal Housing Crisis

The Late Prague Novelist Visits the Golden State, Which Is Metamorphosing Into a Nightmare

I keep hearing you Californians calling your state’s housing crisis Kafkaesque.

You are far too kind: I never imagined a bureaucratic nightmare this cruel, absurd, and surreal.

I don’t know …

Aggressive State Meddling Could Fix California’s Housing Crisis

With Local Governments Crying "NIMBY," Sacramento Must Empower Developers and Home-Seekers

All the debate about how to address California’s massive housing shortage is obscuring the big picture: a state takeover of local housing policy has begun.

That’s the real import of the …

The Verdict Is in—California’s Dickensian Courts Are Failing Us

Our Clogged Legal System Creates Overcrowded Prisons, Underfunded Schools, and Housing Shortages

Dig deep enough into any of California’s biggest problems, and you’ll eventually hit upon a common villain: our court system.

California’s housing shortage, its poverty, its poor business climate, and …