I live in one of the cities mentioned, and we were among the very first in our state to make zoning changes. It's certainly not a bad thing, but it has done ver

I live in one of the cities mentioned, and we were among the very first in our state to make zoning changes. It's certainly not a bad thing, but it has done very little to alleviate housing issues. I am monitoring about ten or so housing related bills working through our legislature at the moment, and while they might make improvements, most of them feel like the sponsors are just trying to do something without actually understanding the causes of the housing "crisis." There are also a lot of potential tax increases without a clear picture of how the money will be spent related to housing, which feels disingenuous. I'm getting tired of politicians using the phrase "affordable housing." Look, if they want government to build and manage housing, just say so and stop being euphemistic. It still won't solve the problem for all segments of housing. Too often I see well-intentioned governments, specifically legislatures, unwilling to do the politically hard things. We do need to build more, but that will require softening to regulation - which is something my state seems unwilling to do. We're also willing to look at one of the main problems: people simply don't make enough money to afford the houses we have. It's relatively easy to say "let's go build more houses" but much harder to say "let's figure out why not enough people are making a living wage."