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Assembly Bill 199 was introduced in late January and authored by Kansen Chu (D-San Jose) and the California Building and Construction Trades Council, a labor union group. The bill requires workers to be paid “prevailing wage” on residential projects that have any agreement with “the state or a political subdivision” — a provision that extends the requirement beyond the redevelopment agencies, public agencies and low income housing projects covered under existing state law.

“Silicon Valley’s innovation economy grew faster in 2016 than in 2015, and it outpaced all rival tech hubs. Last year, job growth in innovation industries was 8 percent in Santa Clara County; 7 percent in Austin, Texas; 4 percent in New York City; 3 percent in Boston; and 2 percent both in Seattle and Southern California, according to the report, by San Jose-based Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Mountain View-based Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Yet soaring housing prices, brutal traffic snarls and troubling education results are among the flaws that threaten to undermine the economy in Silicon Valley, the report stated.”

My trusty spreadsheet tells me that in 2016 an average 47.2 percent of households in the L.A.-O.C. metropolitan area lived in homes they owned vs. 49.1 percent in 2015. In both years, those percentages were the lowest ownership rates among the nation’s 75 largest metro areas.

One of the impediments to housing production in California is a state environmental quality act that requires developers to assess the local environmental impacts of new housing. The result is that little new housing has been built in California, forcing people to move to places like Arizona and Texas. But California’s temperate climate means that greenhouse gas emissions there are far lower than in interior states. “If California’s restrictions induce more building in Texas and Arizona, which require far more artificial cooling,” says the paper, “then their net environmental [effects] could be negative in aggregate.”

The unaffordability problem affecting the Bay Area-Silicon Valley region of California is a serious statewide crisis that Sacramento isn’t taking seriously.  But this problem isn’t the Bay Area’s alone.  California’s most populous region – Greater Los Angeles – is also plagued with unaffordable homes and rentals. And March 2017’s consolidated Los Angeles election has housing affordability front and center.

The report measures the “bare bones” cost of living — housing, food, transportation, health care, child care and taxes — to see what it takes for households to get by without public or private assistance. For a single adult living alone, that annual income is $27,942, or $13.23 per hour for a full-time worker. For a family with two adults, one preschooler and one infant, it’s $88,616.

It would take even more – much more – to make up for lack of construction in the last decade – a dearth that’s driven housing costs to sky-high levels and given us the nation’s highest level of poverty. . . Two new proposals, one imposing a new tax on real estate transactions and another abolishing state income tax deductions for second home mortgage interest, would generate perhaps $600 million a year for affordable housing – enough for around 1,800 units, or just 1 percent of the state’s overall need.

Her loan is part of a booming corner of the lending industry called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE. Such loans, set up by local governments across the U.S., are designed to encourage homeowners to buy energy-efficient solar panels, window insulation and air-conditioning units. . . Creditworthiness matters little to lenders, because loans are based on the value of a homeowner’s property. PACE loans typically require no down payment, and the debt is added to property-tax bills as an assessment. Ms. White’s annual property taxes soared to $6,500 from $1,215.

Home is the foundation for life. It’s where we raise families, feel safe and secure, rest and recharge. Our options for where we live have far-reaching impacts in our lives – from our job opportunities to our physical and mental health, from our children’s success in school to our environmental footprint. With California’s desirable climate, diverse economy, and many of the nation’s top colleges, the State continues to experience strong housing demand; however, housing construction is constrained by regulatory barriers, high costs, and fewer public resources.

“What the report tries to get at is that the facts on the ground for a typical California family are really as bad as they’ve ever been in the state’s history,” said Ben Metcalf, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Several plans have been floated to put more money into housing – such as a tax on real estate transactions or eliminating the income tax deduction for interest on second homes – but even if Democrats can muster two-thirds votes for these tax changes, they’d have no more than a marginal effect on the crisis.

The tech sector and professional services of the United States are world class; they draw skilled workers from every country, akin to professional European football teams. The same could be said of top universities in the United States. But the rest of the economy — especially the U.S. healthcare and education sectors — are not world class, and the country’s top universities serve just a tiny fraction of the U.S. adult population. These sectors — as well as housing — have racked up tremendous expenses for consumers, businesses and taxpayers but provided relatively little value in return, as this report will describe in detail. As a result, the great strengths of the United States are offset by great weaknesses.

The collaboration with the U.S. Council on Competitiveness—which describes itself as a nonprofit, bipartisan group of labor, corporate and university leaders—tracks health, education and housing costs and outcomes from 1980 to 2014. It finds combined spending in these three areas has ballooned from 25% to 40% as a share of GDP since 1980, without commensurate improvements in quality.

A one-two punch of unwavering fees and unavailable labor is leading many homebuilders to seek extensions of entitlements for projects across the region.

Progressive politicians, dominant in California, talk incessantly about housing affordability, but blindly pursue policies that will make things even worse. It should not be surprising that the housing-cost adjusted poverty rate in California is the worst in union, underperforming even Mississippi. It should also not be surprising that Californians of every age group, including Millennials, are leaving state in larger numbers than they are being attracted.