As Californians, we live the housing crisis every day. It’s the force that empties our bank accounts at the end of the month, dominates our news headlines and populates our local sidewalks with tents.

We call it a “crisis,” but it hardly snuck up on us. This shortage has been in the making for decades.

Many factors play into our current housing shortage: population dynamics, restrictive zoning laws, anti-housing sentiment, complicated regulations, rising costs and economic uncertainty, to name a few.

In Whose Backyard? This is part of a Public Matters series unpacking the housing crisis in San Diego County. You can check out the rest of our coverage here.

Locally, we have a record of being slow to adapt to these kinds of changes. The tension between the city’s desire to build wealth an

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