Though California is home to billionaires who have struck it big in high tech, when the cost of living is taken into account, the Golden State ranks as the most poverty-stricken state, with a fifth of the population struggling to get by, says a New York Times columnist. “The problems of affordable housing and homelessness have surpassed all superlatives — what was a crisis is now an emergency that feels like a dystopian showcase of American inequality,” writes Farhad Manjoo.
Lawmakers have done little to turn the tide. The state legislature just squelched Senate Bill 50, “an ambitious effort to undo restrictive local zoning rules and increase the supply of housing.” Manjoo writes that the bill was shelved through “a sketchy parliamentary maneuver.” The not-in-my-backyard approach to housing policy, where government places restrictions on multifamily projects, discouraging new development, continues to reign.
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