California Homes for We, But Not Thee

Newsom waives modest reforms after protests in Malibu and Palisades

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"Cue the political firestorm in the Palisades and Malibu. Residents howled that the 2021 law would let “opportunistic developers” build multi-family housing that would threaten their neighborhoods’ “quiet, low-density” character. Mr. Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who are under fire for their mishandling of the fires, backed the NIMBYs.

Mr. Newsom’s order limiting more dense housing in the Palisades and Malibu is especially rich since he has threatened to fine cities that don’t build more multi-family housing. He’s also trumpeted Potemkin permitting reforms that would ease permitting for dense housing developments in urban areas.

The state’s Democratic elites want to push more multi-family housing in the suburbs and jam the hoi polloi into big cities, while they enjoy estates in their enclaves. Then they complain that the state’s sky-high housing prices are driving out middle-class families."