Arizona Republic Op-Ed on a range of Arizona housing reform bills
Last week, the Arizona Republic printed an op-ed I wrote about the importance of passing the reforms currently being advanced through the state legislature.
The op-Ed describes how individual cities get into a prisoners dilemma where if one city implements exclusionary policies, it’s no big deal, but when every city does, the metropolitan area gets suffocated in arbitrary rules that cause a breakdown. The nub:
Our city council members won’t stop it. That’s OK. They are the prisoners in this dilemma.
We need state-level leaders, free from this coordination problem, to make what should be easy decisions.
Unfortunately Governor Hobbs vetoed the first bill, which had passed with bipartisan support. Several other bills look like they could reach her desk.
In her explanations about the veto, she was parroting League of City obstruction tactics, which is exactly what my op-ed argued would be counterproductive.
The League would continue to find various reasons to oppose the bills that should follow. We will see if she continues to parrot their excuses or if she manages to govern. Her job here is to be the counterweight to the cities.
As I point out in the piece we all have a seat at both sides of this table. We all want our own neighborhoods to be pristine and exclusive and we all also want the freedom to move and access to affordable and ample housing. Those demands are in conflict. The cities defend the first demand. Nobody has represented the second demand. The state has to do that. The governor needs to take a position in opposition to the cities.
The governor is afraid of going too far. Wouldn’t that be rich? Too far isn’t even on the horizon.
Years back, I tried find out if Milton Friedman had addressed the issue of property zoning. Not so much.
On issues like prostitution and x-rated movie theaters (a thing back then), he waffled and talked about community standards. Friedman actually praised local government, as people had the right to move from one community to another. He may have decided discretion is the better part of valor, when the issue is property zoning.
https://financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-zoning-as-a-property-right
Above we have a libertarian saying zoning is a form of property rights.
When neighborhood property zoning is under review, there are no liberals, and no libertarians, either.
The Byzantine Empire eventually collapsed.
But before it did, I am sure some were protecting their neighborhoods from unwanted encroachment.
I completely agree, Kevin. It's unhelpful to blame local leaders --- if everyone else is blockading new construction, it only makes sense to follow suit. No locality acting alone can move the needle on housing supply. Anyone expecting that housing prices in Palo Alto would come down if they just built enough apartment buildings will be disappointed, because the problem is so much larger than Palo Alto. Only state-level action can break the logjam, enable construction at scale, and ensure that we all share in both the costs and benefits of an adequate housing supply.