In September, California passed SB 10, which allows cities to “upzone” and permit greater housing density in neighborhoods previously zoned for single-family homes. A “housing justice” organization, AHF, has filed a lawsuit that asserts “allowing legislators to override zoning restrictions violates the constitutional right of initiative by allowing local government to repeal or disregard initiative…
Politicians on both sides of the aisle are infamous for saying one thing and doing something contrary to their words. For a voter who values free markets and property rights, it is particularly disconcerting when politicians express support for such principles and then abandon those ideas when it is politically expedient. Texas Attorney General Ken…
Officials in Clark County, Nevada, are upset with the state’s association for realtors. In its August newsletter, the association told members that Nevada has no rent control laws and “landlords can raise the rent as much as they like, as long as the rent increase does not occur during the current lease.” A county commissioner…
Europe is experiencing record high energy prices, and with winter fast approaching, many predict the situation will get worse. Like most of the developed world, European countries have been rushing to adopt “renewable” energy sources like wind. However, when the wind doesn’t blow, there is no power generated. Alex Epstein has been making this point…
Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck once asserted, “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.” Economists disagree on many things, but almost universally agree that rent control is a bad idea. But this hasn’t stopped politicians and housing advocates from calling for more rent…
This summer, Oregon passed a law that prohibits the transmission of love letters. Love letters are written by a prospective home buyer to the owner, and they explain why the buyer loves the home. Oregon lawmakers concluded that “these letters can be a tool of discrimination by including identifying information concerning race, sex or familial…
Libertarians believe that individual liberty is compatible with virtually any moral code. However, politics is the application of morality into a social context. To separate the two is to place liberty on a foundation that cannot support freedom. In a piece titled, “Native Americans Had a Lot More Private Property Than You Think,” Daniella Bassi,…
An opinion piece in the San Bernardino Sun essentially claims that zoning is an application of property rights: When someone “owns” property, they own a “bundle” of ancillary rights. Bundle of rights is a term for a group of legal privileges granted to the owner at the time of purchase. The bundle contains ownership. Right…
A professor in San Diego has concluded that Yelp reviews of ethnic restaurants are contributing to gentrification and displacement. The reviews “contribute to the transformation of urban foodscapes — the physical, symbolic, cultural, lived, and imagined food environments — that have been built by people of color….” And because the reviewers are “primarily young, white,…
An article at MultiHousingNews.com examines Biden’s proposals for addressing the housing shortage, and concludes, In the end, the affordable housing problem is about money. To create housing that costs less, either the cost of construction must be reduced (not likely, given rising costs of land, materials and labor costs); developers must accept reduced profits (which…
In early September, New York extended its eviction moratorium to January 15, 2022. The state’s largest landlord group quickly challenged the law. The group said that the new moratorium made only superficial changes to a previous law that “crumbled” after a Supreme Court ruling. That ruling took issue with a part of the law that…
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said in 2008. Politicians have long followed that blueprint. The terrorist attacks on 9/11, the Great Recession, and now the pandemic are just the most recent examples. During each crisis government expanded its powers at the expense of individual…