When Gavin Newsom was running for California governor in 2017, he famously vowed to “lead the effort to build the 3.5 million new housing units we need by 2025.” Newsom conceded that the goal was “audacious” but argued that “our solutions must be as bold as the problem is big.”1 Everyone agreed that California’s housing problem was big. What drew skepticism was the prospect of building 3.5 million homes by 2025.
“Over the last few months, Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has made a push to try to liberalize zoning and other land-use regulations that block the construction of new housing in the state,” notes law professor Ilya Somin. This August, Youngkin told a committee of the state Senate that “the cost to rent or buy a home is too expensive,” and said “we must tackle root causes behind this supply and demand mismatch; unnecessary regulations, overburdensome and inefficient local governments, restrictive zoning policies, and an ideology of fighting tooth and nail against any new development.”
“Over the last few months, Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has made a push to try to liberalize zoning and other land-use regulations that block the construction of new housing in the state,” notes law professor Ilya Somin. This August, Youngkin told a committee of the state Senate that “the cost to rent or buy a home is too expensive,” and said “we must tackle root causes behind this supply and demand mismatch; unnecessary regulations, overburdensome and inefficient local governments, restrictive zoning policies, and an ideology of fighting tooth and nail against any new development.”
(Updated at 4 p.m.) When walking from a Metro station, pedestrians often pass large apartment buildings that transition quickly to detached, single-family homes