The Rules Starving Housing Supply
Home prices used to run 3 to 4 times household income. Much of the country is now at 5 times or higher, with California in the 10-to-12 range — and Dr. Jenny Schuetz argues the market isn't what failed. The Arnold Ventures Vice President of Infrastructure, Housing and author of Fixer Upper explains how zoning locks neighborhoods into the form they took decades ago, and why the approval process is the part construction lenders should watch: timelines stretching to 10 or 12 years pile up carrying costs, and the length, complexity, and uncertainty of the process is what kills an awful lot of deals. The reforms she maps (by-right approval, front-loaded community engagement, and legalizing townhouses and missing-middle housing) are already moving through statehouses red and blue, with Florida's Live Local Act alone showing more than 70,000 units in the pipeline.
