[throwing838383]

Look at all the cities that don't have Zoning, like Houston, TX. They don't have the kind of housing problems that over regulated CA does. Despite a population of over 2million (3 times more than SF) and growing much faster too, those places are much much more cost effect (100$ per sq foot vs over 1200$ per sq foot in SF). People need to learn how supply and demand work.

Sure, if you start building in SF, it's going to take time to fix. But not adding more supply is like saying, "Well, we've turning coal plants into solar panels but C02 levels are still rising". Just like every solar panel, Every bit more supply will help.

And even more important, is the underlying cost to build. If that's not low enough, the problem will never be fixed entirely. The underlying cost, is usually to high in Blue cities due to regulation, zoning and the loss of the middle class which raises labor costs.

[unixbeard1337]

Houston doesn't have zoning, but does have fairly stringent land-use regulations on single-family homes (min. lot size, setbacks, etc.) See: https://marketurbanism.com/2016/09/19/how-houston-regulates-...

Houston is also surrounded by sparsely-populated countryside, rather than on three sides by water like SF, giving it more room to grow cheaply.

[driverdan]

Houston isn't very dense, it's largely sprawl.