> If the majority of residents in a given area want to keep the zoning as-is, why do you (or I) have any right to force them to change? Because: (a) the "why s

> If the majority of residents in a given area want to keep the zoning as-is, why do you (or I) have any right to force them to change? Because: (a) the "why should you be able to tell people what to do?" argument really runs the other way, as zoning is a way of telling property owners what they can and cannot do with their property; (b) rising home values cause renters to be forced out of their homes unnecessarily; (c) banning new housing in one city causes gentrification in other nearby cities (which is why for example East Palo Alto and Stockton came out in support of SB 50). > And frankly, if increasing density actually helped property values wouldn't you expect a place like NYC to be more affordable? Fortunately we have economists to study these things instead of drawing conclusions from single data points, and the economic consensus is that supply and demand does in fact apply to housing.