I agree with most of what you've said, but I think the core issue of affordability is not dependent on private enterprise profits. I think the core issue in California is that its so difficult to build homes in high density, and NIMBYs prevent new development everywhere, creating more and more sprawl as people move ever out of the range of existing NIMBYs to form new towns, where they in turn become NIMBYs.
If California would allow anyone to build an apartment complex nearly anywhere (as Minneapolis does in many neighborhoods) then there would automatically be more housing, and more affordable housing for blue collar workers and entry level workers. Instead, we have so many neighborhoods where each house is forced to be on .25 acres, or .15 acre, with forced single family occupancy. Affordability is a construction, zoning, and permission problem in California.
And that high expense for housing then trickles up and makes everything more expensive from child care to healthcare to services ... as everyone has to pay workers ever more just so they can get a roof over their heads. People are making $25/hour with no college degree and feel poor.
That's interesting. I've never lived anywhere where that's a problem, at least not to that degree. The places I've lived have low costs of living with the wage disparity holding most people down. A truly urban city where half the people are in a high rise, like myself, has its problems too. Which is what the NIMBYs are worried about I would presume. Tough to scale transportation and everything else around it. It really takes one of the older cities that were designed from nearly day-one to be densely populated. Everything is already in place. For example here all the roads are mostly perfectly square making for efficient movement and trains are the heartbeat of the city.
If California would allow anyone to build an apartment complex nearly anywhere (as Minneapolis does in many neighborhoods) then there would automatically be more housing, and more affordable housing for blue collar workers and entry level workers. Instead, we have so many neighborhoods where each house is forced to be on .25 acres, or .15 acre, with forced single family occupancy. Affordability is a construction, zoning, and permission problem in California.
And that high expense for housing then trickles up and makes everything more expensive from child care to healthcare to services ... as everyone has to pay workers ever more just so they can get a roof over their heads. People are making $25/hour with no college degree and feel poor.