California's high construction costs limit housing. A Supreme Court decision might help

California’s chronic inability to build enough housing – particularly for low-income families – has many causes, but a big one is its extremely high cost of construction. Some costs are intrinsic and unavoidable, such as land acquisition and building materials. But some are artificial and could be lowered, especially those imposed by state and local governments. They include dictating the use of high-cost unionized construction labor, time-consuming environmental clearances, arbitrary design criteria and so-called “impact fees.” Collectively, these costs have the effect of minimizing the number of housing units that...