while LA (city) is denser than most people realize, LA (the region) is decidedly not dense overall, as large portions are low-to-mid density, choked by a tangled glut of roadways, and pockmarked with mini-downtowns intermittently. (poor) zoning is absolutely a significant factor in limiting supply artificially, which in turn backstops, and moreover propels, pricing.
you might be making more of a sociopolitical argument, that the rich are going to eat all the gains and more, while crowding out everyone else, through mechanisms like regulatory capture. that's possible, but the substance of that argument is not coming through very clearly amidst the economic tangents. it still doesn't support the idea that below-market mandates are necessary to bring prices to any natural, or artificially manipulated, affordable equilibrium. note that in a rich-eats-everything-world, we'd not have enough tax money to make housing artificially affordable. if the rich can dominate real estate in that way, they'd surely dominate tax policy in their favor as well.
you might be making more of a sociopolitical argument, that the rich are going to eat all the gains and more, while crowding out everyone else, through mechanisms like regulatory capture. that's possible, but the substance of that argument is not coming through very clearly amidst the economic tangents. it still doesn't support the idea that below-market mandates are necessary to bring prices to any natural, or artificially manipulated, affordable equilibrium. note that in a rich-eats-everything-world, we'd not have enough tax money to make housing artificially affordable. if the rich can dominate real estate in that way, they'd surely dominate tax policy in their favor as well.