The big blue blob cities have been experiencing an exodus over the last few years, with families and businesses fleeing for a better America. But it isn’t just crime or Covid restrictions that drove them out. It was also the unbearably high cost of living engineered by the big blue cities’ radical progressive policies. In the NY Post, Susan Shelley reports on America’s most unaffordable housing in Los Angeles. She writes:
Los Angeles has won the dubious distinction of being the most unaffordable city in America.
A report from Creditnews Research found that a married couple earning the median income of $117,056 in Los Angeles cannot afford an average home in any neighborhood in the city.
“Affordable” was defined as a monthly mortgage payment (interest and principal) that is no more than 25% of gross income.
With the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage above 7.5% last October, Redfin reported that the typical US homebuyer’s monthly mortgage payment had risen to an all-time high of $2,866.
In unaffordable Los Angeles, the typical monthly mortgage payment was $5,932.
The annual income needed to afford a median-home priced home was $237,281.
It was better in New York City, where Redfin found that an income of $197,734 was enough to afford a typical home.
In Houston, an average home was affordable on an income of $92,185, while a family earning $143,187 could comfortably afford to buy a house in Miami, Florida, where the median home price was $525,000.
What’s going on in Los Angeles?
Part of the problem is California’s policy of discouraging the construction of single-family homes.
In their quixotic pursuit of global climate leadership, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 743 in 2013 to designate “vehicle miles traveled” as an “impact” on the environment under the 1970 California Environmental Quality Act.
In practice, this “impact” means it’s virtually impossible to build homes in outlying areas, where land is more affordable.
The premise of SB 743 is this: more homeowners means more commuters driving long distances to work, and because transportation is the state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, commuting homeowners cause climate change.
In fact, this is blithering idiocy, because the entire state of California produces only about 1% of the planet’s greenhouse gasses.
Even if the entire state vanished, the impact on the global climate would be negligible.
It is utterly senseless to limit home construction simply to prevent California homeowners from driving to work.
Action Line: Politicians in big blue cities and states are willing to put their political agendas ahead of the standard of living of their residents, even when it doesn’t make any sense at all. If you’re looking for a better America, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2024 Super States. Then, click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
