Don't blame housing crisis on issues of permitting

I am writing in response to the recently published article by CalMatters (“California prohousing bills clash with coastal protections — again,” March 26). I consider this to be another attack by the building industry on local control and protections of the environment.

Under the guise of a housing crisis of their own making, builders and investors have taken aim at democratic institutions and laws protecting our natural environment.

Saying that building permits are difficult to get and that's why we have a housing crisis is ridiculous. A recent economic study by Matthew Famiglietti for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows little relation between housing costs and permit release. Permits are just one element in the process of investing in building. Others include land acquisition; analysis for pollution and flood risks; labor and financing costs (including mortgage rates); and availability of construction materials.

If permits were the only problem, or if environmental laws were central, then we would not see an international housing crisis. What links all the problems in housing across the globe is its financialization, along with the involvement of hedge funds and other large investors.

Housing is an “asset class.” Building and managing housing is a business where profit is a necessary goal. Keeping demand high and supply low is a time-honored means of achieving this goal. Where we see housing affordability we find the government playing a major role in both building housing, maintaining it and managing the protection of low cost housing.

If state or county officials want to be proactive and successfully attack our housing crisis, they should follow the lead of Paris and build new housing, buy housing and protect affordable units from destruction and replacement with market rate and luxury units.