A Thriving California Starts with Affordability
California is the state where anything is possible with hard work and determination. But our future depends on our willingness to face our biggest challenges – skyrocketing housing and living costs, homelessness, climate change, and keeping good jobs in California.
In 2023, we had a net loss of over 268,000 residents . They left because things in California got too hard – and too expensive. California has the fourth highest cost of living in the United States and the second highest typical home value. Single-family homes in California are 216% more expensive than the rest of the United States, and the average rent in California is $2,795 per month.
Now, we have the added burden of an unpredictable federal government slashing funding, cutting jobs, and engaging in trade wars that are already destabilizing the economy.
We have serious problems and need to focus on real solutions. The state needs to stop throwing money at problems and expecting a different result. Instead, we need to fix what’s broken, find new solutions, and only invest in what works.
We Need to Build Again
To make California affordable again, we need to start building again. Yes, we need to fast track new home construction, but we also need to jumpstart building up our energy grid, water storage, and transportation infrastructure. Building increases supply and capacity, and will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying, middle-class jobs.
We have the know-how. We can build housing that working families can afford. We can modernize and expand our energy grid so blackouts don’t become routine. We can capture, clean, and store the water we will desperately need in the years ahead. But we don’t. We let endless lawsuits and bureaucratic inertia grind progress to a halt.
If California is to remain a place where people can thrive, we must break the logjam. That means streamlining permitting, challenging local opposition that has long blocked progress, and making the hard choices that past leaders have avoided.
Affordable Energy for All
We need an “All of the Above” energy policy, with renewables like solar and wind, but also nuclear, natural gas, and yes, gas-powered cars. We must keep our commitment to tackling climate change, but we can’t do it at the expense of good-paying jobs; and we can’t just have energy mandates that unfairly burden working families.
To secure our energy future, we need to build. We need to build for greater solar and wind generation. Texas and Florida have now passed California in solar generation capacity. By building our generation capacity, we can meet our energy needs and goals, while creating jobs and ultimately, making energy more affordable.
If we are truly committed to meeting our climate goals, we have to build transmission lines. It currently takes over a decade to build new transmission projects in California. California has the slowest transmission approval amongst the ten western states. Without reducing these lead times, it’s unlikely we’ll meet our energy goals.
Cut Red Tape
By reforming our permitting and regulatory processes, we allow Californians to spend more time building and less time buried in legal battles. We need to reform California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Rather than continuing to make piecemeal exceptions, we need to reform CEQA so it does what it was intended—to minimize the likely environmental effect of development. Instead, CEQA is often abused and used to slow down or stop developments all together. CEQA battles not only delay building projects, they make them more costly. If we are serious about making California affordable, we must streamline CEQA reviews.
Come Together to Lift Californians Up
We can do big things in California, because we’ve done it before. It’s time to come together—left and right, north and south, coastal and inland—to lift Californians up. It’s time for bold action, not the status quo that’s leaving too many behind. By building homes and infrastructure, by supporting an entrepreneurial spirit, and making the cost of living more affordable for working families, we can make sure California continues to be the state where anything is possible.
