Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity by Yoni Appelbaum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The third book in what I would characterize as the “Abundance” trilogy. Author Yoni Appelbaum unlike the other two (“Abundance” by Ezra Klein, and “Why Nothing Works” by Marc Dunkelman) concentrates solely on the massive shortage of housing in the United States. The other two books did deal with the housing issues facing the country, and it is fair to say that the general conclusions of all three books are roughly the same. The housing market is so expensive, and so out of reach for so many, due to the rules and regulations (zoning) that we have imposed on the housing market. The author does point out, as with the others, that restrictive zoning that constricts housing supply, is especially prevalent in blue areas of the country. Progressives want housing, especially for those with affordability issues, but in practice enact regulation that provides the opposite result.
All three take some heavy aim at the California law CEQA, which, in the name of environmental protection, has created enormous roadblocks to housing development, and a host of other, non housing building (like high speed rail.) The focus on CEQA in these books has caught the attention of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been pilloried on a podcast or two over the difficulty in creating housing in California. The Governor heard the message, and as part of the California 2025-2026 budget signed into law amendments to CEQA that would have, in the recent past, been unthinkable. The Newsom press release on the “groundbreaking reforms” contained the subtitle “Advancing an abundance agenda.” These books have, without question, stirred some heavy debate.
There are some obviously outrageous abuses of process highlighted in the book that support the author’s main argument. In Berkeley California the author reviews some arguments over additional student housing at the University. These arguments, in a progressive community, center on the opposition of some Berkeley residents to additional student housing.
“A few blocks farther down Piedmont Avenue sits the home of Phil Bokovoy. …he arrived in 1983, as a graduate student in economics, and bought a home six years later. …Bokoovoy is worried that too many people are now trying to crowd into the city with which he fell in love. In 2018 Bokoovoy sued the University through a non-profit he’s created, Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, , alleging that its decision to increase enrollment required an assessment of its environmental impact under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that it had failed to perform. The case made national headlines in 2022, when appellate courts affirmed a ruling by a California judge that adding more students could produce an adverse change to the environment.”
Applelbaum, Yoni, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. Pg. 111
So Mr. Bokovoy, having moved to Berkeley to attend University himself and staying to make it his home, has now determined that any additional influx of students would constitute an “environmental issue” under California law. A separate lawsuit over the same issue alleged a CEQA violation over the additional “noise” that would be generated by increasing the student body. That claim was initially ruled upon favorably by a California judge, forcing the California Legislature to amend CEQA so that “noise generated by people is not subject to CEQA review.” It is no wonder that CEQA has come under such scrutiny.
The author takes us through the history of how zoning came into existence in the United States, and that story is not a pretty one. The motivations of the original legal theorists who promoted zoning are shown to be borne out of racism. The aversion to “apartments” or multi-family housing, are not a recent thing. The Supreme Court, in an early legal test for zoning, said:
“When erected in neighborhoods of single family homes…’very often the apartment house is a mere parasite’, cashing in on the elevated value produced by its environs even as it erodes it, and therefore apartments come ‘very near to being nuisances.’ “
Applelbaum, Yoni, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. Pg. 162
Apartment buildings described as nuisances or parasites. The attitude has not changed much in the last 75 years.
All three books point to the progressive change in values that occurred after the enthusiasm for governmental action embodied by the New Deal. FDR’s determination to use the levers of government to blunt the impacts of the Great Depression eventually gave way to a deep cynicism about government from progressives. All the books point an accusatory finger at Robert Moses, and this author (and the others as well) points to all of the upheavals in the 1960’s as creating a desire within the Progressive movement to stop government from being able to act. This desire was borne out of some of the social disruption that created such a massive distrust of government in this period. All three books point to the long ago written Port Huron statement, issued in 1962 by the Students for a Democratic Society, as being a harbinger of this change. The Progressive movement was converted to thinking about the best ways to limit the ability of government to act. In many ways they have been successful.
The obstacles created for building sufficient housing supply to meet the demand, through zoning, as mentioned, are heavily covered. The author also shows us how the new housing realities have stopped mobility.
“The problem isn’t that we’re sorting ourselves out; it’s that we’ve ceased to mix ourselves together. Zoning has made our neighborhoods far less economically diverse, reducing the odds we will come into sustained contact with people of different backgrounds or with those who hold different perspectives. And regulations have separated areas with rental housing from areas with single family homes. When one in five Americans moved each year, neighborhoods were regularly infused with new arrivals, often bearing the views they’d adopted in their previous communities. Now, with only one in twelve Americans moving, that happens much less often. A more sedentary community will homogenize itself over time as social forces press longtime residents toward conformity and the flow of new neighbors bearing novel ideas and customs and beliefs slows to a trickle. The result is deepening polarization.”
Applelbaum, Yoni, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. Pg. 17
The author buttresses this point with a statistic that is eye opening. Speaking of the 2016 election:
“A month before the election, we found that among white voters who had moved more than two hours from their hometown, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a solid six point lead. Those living within a two-hour drive, though, backed Trump by nine points. And those who had never left their hometown supported him by a remarkable twenty-six points.”
Applelbaum, Yoni, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. Pg. 15
One last stat that is pretty damning for those on the progressive side of the aisle.
“A study of California found that as the share of liberal votes in a city increased by ten points, the housing permits it issued declined by 30 percent.”
Applelbaum, Yoni, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. Pg. 16
There is a lot to digest in this book, and in my view the author correctly highlights some of the obstacles, and yes hypocrisy, to getting our housing market right sized. Those obstacles are unfortunately created mostly at the local level, through restrictive zoning. But it must be pointed out that attempts to change zoning to accommodate new housing units, especially rental units, are usually met with the fiercest of resistance. Democracy does not always produce optimum results. It is hard to imagine a local official standing up and telling a majority of his constituents that they are wrong and voting to place housing in the teeth of determined political opposition. Massachusetts has 40B, and now the MBTA Communities Act, but local opposition has been fierce in many communities. Even Gavin Newsom, cited above for actually getting CEQA modified to address the obstacles created for housing, has taken a step back in Los Angeles. (This was written over several days, so Newsom, in response to severe pressure, waived the reform in a specific case.) As mentioned these decisions are not easy ones.
This book, like the other two, comes highly recommended and is contributing to a much needed debate on housing in the United States.
Gavin Newsom scored by the WSJ Editorial page for retreat on CEQA reform.
Bill Manzi.com 