California is America\u2019s most populous and most innovative state. It\u2019s also troubled \u2014 in particular, it faces an acute housing shortage. So you\u2019d hope the state could find some truly dynamic leaders to make things right.<\/p>\n
Alas, your hopes will not come true this year. On Tuesday, voters weighed in on the remarkably weak field seeking its governorship. Votes are still being counted, but it looks like the choice this November will probably be between two of these three candidates: Xavier Becerra, the former Health and Human Services secretary to President Joe Biden who underwhelmed many of his colleagues; Steve Hilton, a Republican former Fox News host who has President Trump\u2019s endorsement; and Tom Steyer, a billionaire who may finally manage to buy his way into public office by spending nine figures of his own money and pandering to virtually every progressive interest group imaginable.<\/p>\n
So why didn\u2019t a great state get to choose among some great candidates? Personally, I blame the voters. Electorates get the candidates they deserve. The thing about Californians is that on some level, they get that the state needs to change, but they won\u2019t do what it takes \u2014 because they don\u2019t really want it to change. They don\u2019t even appear to care that their government takes weeks to count votes.<\/p>\n
The good news is that even in a field this underwhelming, the candidates have made clear they understand that the state doesn\u2019t have enough homes, and they broadly recognize that they need to build more, by making construction cheaper and lowering regulatory barriers. Republicans get this, moderates get this, progressives get this.<\/p>\n
But California\u2019s sitting governor, Gavin Newsom, while party to that consensus, has abjectly failed to get California building again. That\u2019s not because he is incompetent \u2014 mainly, it\u2019s because he\u2019s up against voters who say they want housing but, at the local level, are addicted to the policies that stop it from getting built.<\/p>\n
The state now has fewer residents than it did when Mr. Newsom took office, even as the national population has grown about 4 percent. After the 2030 census, California is likely to lose four congressional districts after a decade of people leaving the state in search of cheaper housing.<\/p>\n
If you listen to Mr. Newsom or his potential successors talk about housing, their diagnosis of what has gone wrong is mostly correct: Municipalities do not allow enough housing to be built where it is needed; they impose excessive development fees; permit approvals take too long, which adds cost because time is money; building codes are outdated; NIMBY homeowners and climate activists abuse the state\u2019s environmental laws to delay projects; subsidized affordable housing projects are laden with even more mandates and regulations, making them more expensive to build than market-rate housing.<\/p>\n