☆ Opinions: SJ should eradicate rent controls, restrictive zoning
How can local gov’t fix affordability for residents? Retired attorney Ted Stroll and Purissima Hills Water District director Brian Holtz recommend a simple—but sweeping—prescription: no more rent control, traditional property taxes, single-family zoning, or sales taxes. And—to look to Argentina. An Opp Now exclusive in our ongoing affordability roundup.
Ted Stroll, retired attorney at the California Supreme Court, past State Assembly candidate: Thaw the ice-jammed rental housing market.
There is good news: CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) can no longer be invoked to stop new housing. But a remaining problem is rent control.
Argentina’s capital had a semi-paralyzed rental market like ours. “Empty apartments, housing shortages, and backroom deals defined the sector in Buenos Aires” (Source: Reason magazine). With owners refusing to rent at a loss and supply thus crippled, rents were high for what was available.
President Javier Milei abolished rent control. Supply almost tripled (Source: Newsweek), and rents fell by about 27% (Source: the Cato Institute.)
Data are difficult to tease out, but it’s likely that tens of thousands of units sit vacant in San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland because it doesn’t pay to rent them. Lift rent controls, and let’s see if the supply explodes and rents fall the way they did in Buenos Aires.
Brian Holtz, Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County secretary, Purissima Hills Water District elected director: The biggest impact by local governments on affordability in Silicon Valley is through land-use policies that increase housing costs and transit congestion. My geolibertarian prescription:
Replace traditional property taxes with a land-value tax, to reduce sprawl and encourage efficient use of prime locations.
Eliminate restrictive zoning (e.g., single-family) and parking minimums to allow more choice for property owners and housing providers—and their customers—such as higher density, ADUs, and mixed use.
Replace sales taxes with congestion tolls and market pricing for street parking.
These market-based reforms would increase housing supply, reduce traffic and artificial scarcity, and make Silicon Valley more affordable, without the inefficiency and corruption inherent in government subsidies and rent control.
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