Time to Rethink Housing Market

It is hardly surprising that it is so difficult to rent an apartment in California (“Least Affordable Rents in Nation Found in State,” Dec. 21).

Well-intended but counterproductive affordable-housing measures such as rent control and below-market set-aside requirements have distorted the housing market and strongly discouraged the construction of new rental units.

Meanwhile, “not in my backyard” attitudes toward increased density have produced a severe housing shortage in urban areas, resulting in traffic- and pollution-generating sprawl. I imagine that 90-minute commutes to dusty, smoggy desert exurbs do not figure into anyone’s vision of the “California Dream.”

This state cannot accommodate 50 million people without seriously rethinking its policies on development and transportation. Liberals will have to accept that some of their most cherished programs are folly; conservatives will need to understand that the California of old cannot survive.

Peter McFerrin

Palms