[jrobbins]

Even if California adds housing, how can it possibly add enough water, roads, schools, parks, etc? It's just trading one crisis for another.

The coastal regions are already over-crowded at current prices. The overall cost is just too high. It's wasteful compared to building in other regions. And, it's unnecessary because so much of modern work can be done remotely.

Instead of allowing 80% of housing at market rate to subsidize 20% low-income housing in an unsustainable growth pattern, California should mandate that large employers offer at least 20% of their office employees the opportunity to work remotely. Creating an escape valve for local demand would slow the growth of housing costs without adding new infrastructure requirements.

[dumbfoundded]

Many other places have solved this problem. San Francisco has relatively low population density compared even when only looking at US cities. NYC is very livable.

It's in CA best long term interest to support as many people as possible. Remote work isn't going to solve the problem that someone who works at Walgreens cannot afford to live within 20 mi of the city.