A Conservative Opening on Urban Policy

As riots and Covid-related economic problems have afflicted America’s big cities, many on the right have been quick to blame progressive mayors for decades of policies that have made a difficult situation worse. The current moment offers an opportunity for conservatives because the Right’s policy instincts are more in tune with urban-dwellers in a range of areas, including housing costs, manufacturing, policing, spending, and solutions for poverty. But they’ll need to seize that opportunity.

Housing, for example, accounts for 88 percent of the variation in cost of living from one...