On housing, government does not know best

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators claim to know what’s good for us.

And what’s good for us is life in small, dense, tighly-packed homes near mass transit.

Californians are right to resist such arrogant social engineering.

Leading the charge is star chef Thomas Keller, owner of the posh French Laundry where Newsom in 2020 dined sans mask while telling the rest of us to avoid even the Taco Bell drive-through during COVID.

Keller and other business owners in wealthy Yountville, Calif. hope to stall a “workforce housing” project on grounds of density, lack of parking, and tens of millions in costs to the city. 

Plans for Yountville Commons include some studio apartments as small as 300 square feet. 

Yes, the state does have a housing shortage.

But the left’s fantasy of packing people into cramped urban buildings and hoping they won’t (or can’t) drive anywhere is not feasible for a vast swath of Californians.

Such housing might work, for a time, for single young professionals.

But what happens when these workers partner up, start families, and need to get one kid to soccer practice, another to ballet and a third to karate?

A studio apartment and the bus aren’t going to cut it.

The reality is, a great many state residents prefer the archetypal single-family home, and perhaps even the white picket fence. 

Instead of directing people to homes they don’t want, the governor and legislators should embrace policies that make desirable homes less expensive to build.

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That means relaxing state mandates –– from solar edicts to long environmental reviews to above-market union construction wages –– that can add tens of thousands of dollars to the price of every house.

The status quo of forcing high rises into communities that don’t want them just makes everyone (save the government social engineers) unhappy. 

And over time, such unwelcome additions can destroy the vibe, charm, or character of a city.

We don’t get healthy communities by piling people up, one on top of the other, like layered creations in a French Laundry nine-course meal.

And memo to Sacramento: We also don’t like toilets that barely flush, dribbling shower heads, and decrees that we buy stoves and light bulbs and cars of your choice.

Sorry not sorry, but government doesn’t know best.