25 Solutions From A Builder’s Perspective To Fix The California Housing Crisis

The California housing crisis is damaging our very existence. Homelessness is higher than any point during my lifetime. High housing costs are a drag on our local employers. Many working poor have a job, but live out of their vehicles. Many commute as many as four hours a day just to make a living. People are leaving our state to find the middle class American dream elsewhere. Most importantly, the outrageous cost of living may scare the young person that would move to California to create the next Disney, Bechtel, Google, Douglas Aircraft, or Intel from ever coming. Enough is enough.

California state housing officials say we need 180,000 new housing units per year. A study by McKinsey, embraced by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, says we need 3.5 million homes by 2025 (that’s 437,500 per year!). Today, despite out-of-control housing values and the strongest infill housing market in a generation, we are barely building 100,000 housing units per year.