Abstract

This article presents views of the author on housing policies for California in the 1980s. It is clear that California faces a substantial set of housing problems in the mid-1980s. High housing costs are putting coastal metropolitan California at a substantial disadvantage in the competition for national economic growth. Despite the relative cost of California housing, California is likely to see strong demographic demand for housing for the remainder of the 1980s. Basic demand for housing units is over 230,000 per year for the next decade. The first three years of the decade, however, have seen housing production far below this basic demand level, implying that California may face a quantitative housing shortage when effective demand recovers. The solution to California's housing problems are clearly complicated but revolve around one key fact-a high level of new production is needed in both the rental and homeownership sectors if present and future supply- demand imbalances and the corresponding further rise in relative prices are to be avoided.