In the decade since Gov. Jerry Brown starkly described many state housing laws and policies as hostile to the best interests of Californians, there’s been progress in reducing some construction red tape by limiting the scope of state environmental laws — as well as a welcome willingness to allow far more unconventional granny flat-type units. But has there been progress in getting elected leaders to grasp the basics of economics? Don’t get your hopes up.
This was illustrated by two dismaying reports Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times. The first was an analysis of efforts to rebuild the 22,500 homes destroyed by state wildfires from 2017 to 2020. It found that 38%, or about 8,400, had been rebuilt. While building was significant in some areas — in particular, affluent communities in flatter areas — many others were doing far worse. From “wine country to foothills below the Sierra Nevada to canyons overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the wreckage stubbornly resists recovery,” the piece noted. In some communities, fire victims were devastated by how early progress was followed by steep slowdowns, leading them to give up on rebuilding. While there were many factors, the primary obstacles to construction were the same as always in the Golden State: high costs and heavy regulations.
Then a second Times article further underscored the mindset driving the state’s housing sclerosis. It detailed how eight Los Angeles City Council members wanted to respond to the lack of progress in rebuilding Pacific Palisades after January’s catastrophic blazes there. They backed taking initial steps to mandate a $32.35 minimum wage for all construction projects in the city with 10 or more residential units that were under 85 feet in height, as well as requiring employers to provide “an additional health care credit of $7.65 per hour.”
Now there’s no doubt that construction worker shortages are an issue. But there is no reason to expect that mandating minimum compensation of $40 an hour for such workers is likely to speed up housing construction when it would greatly (and, apparently, permanently) add to the already-huge burdens placed on builders. That’s why Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, blasted the proposal as “absolute insanity” that “will drive what little construction we have out of L.A.”
Does L.A. Mayor Karen Bass think this makes sense? Does Gov. Gavin Newsom? Or — despite years of pro-housing rhetoric from our leaders — does the anti-Californian status quo ripped by Brown in 2015 endure? If Pacific Palisades remains a ghost town in 2035, we’ll have our answers.