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Based on an earlier state report, Sherman D. Harmer, Jr., a San Diego home builder and president of the California Building Industry Association, said that the long-term cumulative housing deficit in the state is actually closer to one million units.
“That lack of supply, coupled with an ever-growing population, is why the median home price has jumped 92% since the early 1990s and why the median-priced home in California, which cost about the same as the national average in the mid-1970s, now costs nearly $200,000 more than the national median-priced home,” said Harmer.
“In addition, the lack of housing supply for our workforce is starting to severely undermine the stability of our economy and jobs,” he said.
Harmer said enacting the study’s recommendations for reform would go a long way toward easing the state’s growing housing affordability crisis. Among those recommendations are:
- Reforming the environmental regulation process to focus on outcomes as opposed to the process.
- Studying the feasibility of reengineering the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process so that it serves its original purpose of ensuring that environmental impacts are considered in the planning process, and mitigated where feasible. “Late hits” — CEQA lawsuits after the exhaustive reporting and review process has been completed — should be discouraged, and redundant environmental reviews should be eliminated.
- A dedicated and consistent source of long-term funding should be developed to invest in building and maintaining the state’s infrastructure, such as transportation, water and power systems.
- Adequate housing production should be ensured to address the housing shortage.
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