Kind of. It's improper regulation. You need some regulation or people die, but when regulation is bad it can sometimes be worse than no regulation at all.
In the SF/Bay Area (and possibly CA as a whole) there is more space allocated for businesses than there are for houses. Likewise, zoning is spread out so people have to commute to work. This is why, eg, the greater Los Angeles area has some of the worst traffic in the US, only beaten by Texas and DC.
The history behind these bad regulations comes from racism. In the 50s suburbia was created in such a way to isolate residence selling safety. I don't want to go into the details here, but it's a fascinating piece of US history.
When businesses and commercial are interwoven with residential people stop fighting for the few places close to work, which stops spiking up the price of those areas. Likewise, when the ratio is right there stops being a supply problem, even if it is the same amount of houses. In CA's situation it could mean less business buildings or more urban housing.
Well sure; I didn't mean to imply that there should be no zoning/housing regulations, only that it has gone too far in some areas, which has stifled development and caused prices to skyrocket.
In the SF/Bay Area (and possibly CA as a whole) there is more space allocated for businesses than there are for houses. Likewise, zoning is spread out so people have to commute to work. This is why, eg, the greater Los Angeles area has some of the worst traffic in the US, only beaten by Texas and DC.
The history behind these bad regulations comes from racism. In the 50s suburbia was created in such a way to isolate residence selling safety. I don't want to go into the details here, but it's a fascinating piece of US history.
When businesses and commercial are interwoven with residential people stop fighting for the few places close to work, which stops spiking up the price of those areas. Likewise, when the ratio is right there stops being a supply problem, even if it is the same amount of houses. In CA's situation it could mean less business buildings or more urban housing.