How Lefty Urbanists Quash Housing Supply

It has been twelve years since I suggested to a Seattle developer that the cause of the housing “crisis” was a lack of supply. She dismissed my argument, claiming the word “supply” was “too Republican.” Today, things have changed—you’re allowed to propose supply-side reforms, as long as you balance them out with a proposed intervention, like taxing the production of new housing to pay for affordable housing.

Consider this example. A piece in the Denver Voice with the headline, “Denver seeks to capitalize on homebuilding activity with new affordable housing regulations,” discusses the...