Government to blame for housing shortage – Chico Enterprise-Record

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A recent letter suggesting that in order to have low income housing, government must build low income housing. This seems logical to many, but there is a better solution.

If an expensive home is built, a lower valued home is vacated when it’s owner buys the expensive place and sells. Of course, when that lower valued home is vacated and sold, an even lower home becomes vacant. This repeats until the cheapest apartment becomes vacant and begs for a tenant … keeping rents down.

Every house built creates a low end vacancy. Building a new mobile home park for seniors causes the same chain reaction … as their homes go on the market. The extremely affective and efficient free-enterprise system is mostly invisible, dissatisfying to liberals and begs for government action instead.

As for government action … watch out! Housing shortage is actually caused by government action … building permits and zoning restrictions. I can easily point at a 3 1/2 acre parcel next to the city that government zoning limits to 3 lots, but could be 10 lots … if the government stopped restricting it

Want more smaller and cheaper places, then eliminate the zoning restrictions and permit costs if the house is less than 900 sq ft… with a one car garage on a 4,000 sq ft or smaller lot.

Free enterprise will magically create them at low to no taxpayer expense.

—Ron Imhoff, Chico

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