Barriers To Housing Development Essay

Improved Essays
Over the past few decades, local barriers to housing development have intensified through out high-growth metropolitan areas increasingly fueling the national economy. The huge add up of many barriers such as zoning, land use regulations, and long development approval processes has the in fact reduced the ability of many housing markets to respond to the ever growing demands. The growing harshness of undersupplied housing markets sends working families out of the market. This rigor of undersupplied markets jeopardies housing affordability for working families which increases income inequality, by reducing less-skilled workers access to higher-wage labor markets, also decreases GDP growth by driving labor migration away from other regions.
Significant barriers blocking new housing development can cause working families to be pushed away from a job -- that could benefit them being able to afford great housing -- and prevent them from moving to other regions that may provide more higher wage jobs. These excessive long standing barriers can also result in the over excessive pull back on national economic growth and further exacerbate actual income inequality. The new housing that does get built tends to be in disproportionally concentrated within low-income communities of color—causing wide
…show more content…
If the state were stacked up against nations, California would likely be the seventh-largest economy. California is a desirable place to be, but California’s home prices and rents are higher than just about anywhere else. Beginning in 1970, the gap between California’s home prices and the rest of the nation began to spread. California’s home prices went from 30 percent above U.S levels to more than 80 percent higher between 1970, and 1980. Living in a decent housing accommodation is important for every Californian. But how much is too

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    White Flight Effect

    • 2182 Words
    • 9 Pages

    By creating these areas, and different housing programs it produces racially unequal access to certain jobs and certain living areas (Brodkin, 2014). Housing Programs (Pruitt –…

    • 2182 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    These areas are where the property values have been the largest. The average tenancy length from 1970 to 2000 grew by one year within the inland cities, but with more than 2 years in areas such as Los Angeles. Areas such as the Bay Area experienced a three year growth. Because of the continuity and stability that has been achieved, some feel it has been worth the loss in tax-revenue. (The Lock-in Effect of California's Proposition…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Kim-Mai Cutler article on the San Francisco housing crisis, she argues that there are a multitude of reasons that contribute to the astronomical housing prices in the bay area. One of the more significant reasons she focuses on is the regulatory practices we have in California. Compared to most other states in America, California has much less regulation on land use and residential construction. This leaves California cities to be essentially free to set their own rules, with little oversight from regional or state authorities. John M. Quigley, a professor of economics at California Berkeley, wrote a paper analyzing the effect of regulations on land use and residential construction in regards to housing prices in California.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hollister Research Paper

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The recent housing developments in Hollister illustrates how an individual’s race and gender can allow them to gain an unfair advantage or privilege over others. Only individuals with access to a significant amount of wealth would be able to purchase these houses due to the incredibly high prices. More often than not, these individuals would be white males. As a result of their skin color and sex, they are able to have high skilled jobs and receive a higher paycheck than their colleagues. A recent article by CNN substantiates this assertion by revealing that African Americans and Hispanics are experiencing lower wages, household wealth, home ownership and higher unemployment in comparison to white Americans.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Homelessness In Sacramento

    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Urban Rejects: Why the Homeless Still Sleep on the Streets of Sacramento The existence of homeless people in our society is still apparent today. There are over 2,538 men, women, and children homeless in the Sacramento area, (Sacramento Steps Forward). Everywhere you glance around in our cities, parks, businesses, and streets it is more than likely that you will observe a homeless person grappling to live. Homelessness is not prejudice toward race, gender, or class.…

    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    His study documents the process of that development, which he divides into three distinct eras: from 1900 to 1940, from 1941 to 1960, and from 1960 through the civil rights years and beyond. The first period incorporates the years of the great migration of southern blacks to the larger cities of the North and East. Noting that this period also witnessed a diffusion of many of those migrants to outlying areas around those cities, areas that meet the geographical, if not the sociological, definition of suburbs, Wiese argues that, for blacks as for whites, the process was one of upward, as well as outward, mobility.…

    • 2192 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Redlining In Society

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages

    All men are equal, but their circumstances are not. America bears an ugly history of racial segregation in cities, mostly due to the practice of redlining. Lending companies and banks withhold mortgages and other loans from people who live in neighborhoods of certain ethnic makeups. In a perfect world, arbitrary factors such as race would not affect someone’s ability to buy a home. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world.…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gentrification is occurring right before our eyes. The government is rebuilding neighborhoods and as they rebuild them the cost of living in area is increasing. Although, rebuilding communities may seem like a great idea the increase cost of living is driving families out of their neighborhoods and forcing them to leave. Many families have nowhere to go and sometimes end up in the shelter system. Working in a shelter I get to experience firsthand what these families go through.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Segregation In Harlem

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When we consider the connection between race and housing in post-WWII America, it is one that is marked by exclusion from opportunity, and continued segregation. While the racist practices of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and segregated communities do support this notion, the connection is (too) often related to homeownership alone. In fact, many racial groups, namely Black Americans, faced housing discrimination as renters. This did not necessarily entail exclusion from rental opportunities (this did happen often however)-- it also included dilapidated housing conditions for Black tenants imposed on them by unscrupulous landlords. Harlem, N.Y. serves an example of where this form of oppression has occurred.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racism In Houston

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A study by the New York Times found that in Houston, low-income housing projects that promote affordable housing are disproportionately built in majority non white communities. This means is that, inadvertently, the government is maintaining spatial divides between races, despite federal legislation to support integration…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The safety and education system should be the same in all neighborhoods such as African American, low, middle, and high class. The Economist goes on by saying when raising the prices on property, it “also generates more property-tax revenue, helping to improve local service.” This makes it affordable to build “subsidized housing for the poor” (2). Understanding the points that The Economist is making but, there is not documents that show that more subsidized houses are being made to support the lower class community. Lastly, if these house are being built up but not taken care of then who is to say that gentrification will not happen to these “new” areas as…

    • 1960 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race And Migration

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The relationship between race, housing, and poverty in metropolitan areas in the United States of America is significant because these issues are still prominent in Cities and States. For an example, residents in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, 55.1 percent of its population lives in segregated areas. Caucasian’s and African-American unemployment rate vastly differ. The unemployment rate of African-Americans being 20.2 percent compared to the white unemployment rate being 5.4 percent (Frohlich, 2015). 33.6 percent of African Americans live below the poverty rate compared to the poverty rate for Cacauscians, which is only 9.3 percent.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As Oahu continues to grow, HART believes “ [In] 2030, 70% of Oahu’s population will be increased.” With more development being involved this causes a very high demand for housing. For Hawaii News Now they provide claim saying, “Oahu population growth outpacing housing supply.” In fact a Hawaii economist, Eugene Tian states “to catch up with demand, developers would have to build about 2,000 more homes each year than they do now.” Now many residents can’t afford these so called “affordable homes” and they already struggle on trying to make a living on Oahu.…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    New developments and businesses, large corporations, and private institutions are what gentrifying neighborhoods attract. For these reasons, housing demand goes up in the area. This denotes that affordable housing would be hard to achieve since property value rises. Richard Florida explains in his article, “This Is What Happens After A Neighborhood Gets Gentrified,” how local residents “may feel pressured to move to more affordable locations,” (Florida 9). Usually, these businesses will bring in some conveniences such as beautified environment, more security, and money to the community, but they will also drive away the neighborhood’s local inhabitants.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The topic that is widely discussed in big cities is gentrification. When my peers were asked, what they defined gentrification as, they described it as “rich people coming into cheaper neighborhoods.” According to their definition, gentrification has not been a positive effect to the majority, the lower classes. Gentrification is the occurrence when wealthy classes come into affordable neighborhood. As a result, this usually raises prices as store and homeowners see an opportunity to gain more money.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics