From today’s Chronicle,

If the Bay Area were to have homeownership rates on par with the rest of the nation, 256,000 more households would need to own homes, according to a new study by a state building industry association that hopes to loosen existing land-use policies. But environmental groups say boosting residential production — while a way to address some of the state’s housing problems — could cost Californians more in traffic, pollution and sprawl.

The study, titled “Homeownership in California,” makes the case that the state’s 57 percent homeownership rate — the second lowest behind New York — lags far behind the national average of nearly 70 percent because a patchwork of environmental policies and legal decisions has choked off new home building and thereby pushed home prices $300,000 above the national average.

Now, as a dwindling number of residents can afford even modest homes, the building industry contends the answer is to curtail the use of the quality act by environmental groups to halt development and to force cities to identify and plan for a 20-year supply of new housing.

[The Sierra Club] and others support the development of underutilized urban plots as well as so-called inclusionary housing ordinances. Such measures, which are already on the books in many cities including San Francisco, require builders to make a certain portion of any home development affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

Unfortunately, this seems to imply that relaxing environmental safeguards is the answer, but I think that increasing housing density is a more practical solution. Even in San Francisco where we have the highest density in the Bay Area, we could still do better in many ways, such as along the often-debated transit corridors.

This is yet another reminder how creating a housing moratorium is just ridiculous.

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