Noted pro-government “liberal” writer Nicholas Kristoff recently authored an interesting column in the New York Times, “What have we liberals done to the West Coast?”
Kristoff worries that pro-government “liberal” policies have made many social problems worse.
“The basic reason for homelessness on the West Coast,” concedes Kristoff, “is an enormous shortage of housing that drives up rents. California lacks about three million housing units, in part because it’s difficult to get permission to build.”
This, of course, is because California (and Oregon and Washington) impose too many regulations, barriers, and obstacles to the construction of new housing.
Government trusters like Kristoff have spent years advocating for government housing projects. But “[p]ublic sector efforts to build housing are often ruinously expensive, with “affordable housing” sometimes costing more than $1 million per unit.”
