Friday Roundup 9-3-21

Ardent Residential wants to build a 275-unit apartment building in Austin. The company plans to set aside 10 percent of the units for low-income families. But the project requires rezoning to allow for higher density housing. When the Austin Zoning and Platting Commission (ZAP) recently heard the case, commissioners were deadlocked on approving the rezoning. The primary objection was the presence of two caves under the property. Commissioners opposed to the rezoning expressed concern for whatever may be living in the caves. In other words, those commissioners are more concerned about creatures dwelling far underground than they are for the human beings living on Earth. This is another demonstration of the anti-human ethos of both environmentalism and zoning.

Last week, the Supreme Court struck down the latest eviction moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In its ruling, the Court stated, “Congress was on notice that a further extension would almost surely require new legislation, yet it failed to act in the several weeks leading up to the moratorium’s expiration.” In other words, the eviction moratorium is unconstitutional if imposed by the CDC, but it is constitutional if imposed by Congress. This is just the latest example of the Court deferring to legislators, a position that essentially holds that nearly any law passed by legislators is constitutional. If legislators enact a law, it is constitutional by that fact, but if another government agency imposes the same mandates or prohibitions, the latter are subject to judicial review. The Court is giving legislators a blank check to control and regulate at their whim, and the Court will do nothing to reign them in.

An unintended example of the above point is expressed by Professor Ananya Roy, director of the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA. She suggests that local politicians take over private property, including hotels, as a means to address the affordable housing crisis. She says, “This is a moment of great crisis. But it’s also a moment to do things we would not otherwise do. It turns out that local politicians — mayors, for example — have the authority to commandeer property for the protection of life.” When saving lives justifies commandeering property, then nothing is off limits, including ordering businesses to shut down.