I'm talking about small cities, like Toledo, Milwaukee, Rochester MN, South Bend, Lansing, Kalamazoo, etc. They are in the middle of nowhere, but they still hav

I'm talking about small cities, like Toledo, Milwaukee, Rochester MN, South Bend, Lansing, Kalamazoo, etc. They are in the middle of nowhere, but they still have people and jobs. I live in Grand Rapids. There's lots of zoning and permitting rules. None of it is ever enforced. All a developer has to do is ask, and they get literally every non-safety rule waived. - Don't want to build kitchen or bathrooms in your studio apartments? Just say your "micro-unit focused" and the already-tiny minimum unit size no longer applies to you. People are so desperate for housing, they'll pay luxury price premiums, even to live in door rooms. Extra money, for free! - Annoyed about having to pay for your tenants parking? No worries! Just say you are a "transit-oriented design" and all parking requirements are waived -- you can dump infinite cars on the street for free! (Despite the fact that, like most mid-west cities, we only barely have transit at all) - Want to skip out on your make ready costs? Just claim your lot needs "brownfield redevelopment" and the city will reimburse the developer for all of the make-ready expenses in cash. I get that in California, the zoning and local governments are the major roadblock. But I have a hard time believing "zoning/permitting" is the root cause for this issue. Because there are places where developers have no rules and get literally anything they ask for, anytime they ask. And yet even these places still only get luxury apartments.