[orangecat]

I personally don’t understand why the some exceptionally wealthy billionaire in California doesn’t solve the homelessness problem themselves

If you were an exceptionally wealthy billionaire, how would you solve it? Especially considering that the obvious approach of "build housing" is largely illegal.

[nradov]

Due to the SB-8 Housing Crisis Act of 2019, it is now largely legal to build housing. Sometimes property developers have had to sue local governments in order to enforce their rights but now most cities are complying. Obtaining the necessary land and building permits is still extremely expensive. A billion dollars worth of new housing would be great, but it would barely begin to address the shortage.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...

[fmajid]

The Builder's Remedy doesn't apply to SF yet because of its sham "Housing Element" plan it filed with the State government, that has realistically zero chances of ever happening, but bought them an 8 year reprieve.

[prottog]

> Sometimes property developers have had to sue local governments in order to enforce their rights

I'm glad that the state government has taken a step in the right direction, but the situation on the ground as you describe it still doesn't sound very friendly. There's enough risks in investment and business (that is, property development) as it is without needing to fight City Hall on top of it.

> Obtaining the necessary land and building permits is still extremely expensive.

Land I understand, since it's of a fixed supply in a highly desired area, but there's no reason why permitting should be so burdensome if policy intent is to foster more building.

[thebooktocome]

Billionaires don’t seem to have trouble doing illegal things when it comes to tax evasion, securities fraud, and the like. Some random municipal zoning board would be child’s play with their resources.

The proof of this is that the rich regularly manipulate zoning laws. Look at what Google and Apple did to Palo Alto.

[lotsofpulp]

Violating a random municipal zoning board’s orders by building something without the necessary permits is a clear cut violation that is easy to spot that you cannot use plausible deniability for.

The US is not that corrupt yet. The billionaire might be able to bribe the zoning board members, but it would be pretty sacrificial of one’s self to risk a felony just to watch the building’s freshly laid foundation get destroyed, because that is only how far one might get without the cops getting involved.