1 min read
Sources:
press and public records, Kevin's account
["default","default","rose"]
Short answer
Consolidate the state’s 482 local building-and-safety departments into one statewide permitting process, build more housing communities, and connect them to job centers with tunnels and toll roads. The underlying thesis, which he still holds and now invests on: high prices come from jobs, weather and city councils that will not permit, not from investors buying homes. A UC Irvine law professor called the takeover plan vague promises. Kevin says the same failure he wanted to fix is now the reason his company buys in California. 123
Core proposal: 1 statewide permit process (replacing 482 departments)
Cause of high prices: Permitting, not investors (his thesis)
Expert verdict: "Vague promises" (UC Irvine's Bob Solomon)
The proposal
From the 20-part plan: consolidate California’s 482 building-and-safety departments into one statewide permitting process; build housing communities; connect them to cities with tunnels and toll roads; and treat homelessness as an emergency alongside. 1
The thesis
Kevin’s account
High prices are not driven by investors; a bit over 20% of purchases go to investors, the vast majority mom-and-pops. They are driven by high-paying jobs, weather, desirability and low-growth city councils with patchwork permitting. Manhattan restricts unit construction despite desperate need; California’s arduous permitting keeps housing unaffordable; parts of Florida and Texas overbuilt and saw values collapse. Construction trends drive home values, not investors. 2
The criticism
The Orange County Register’s Bob Solomon, a UC Irvine law professor, called the state-takeover plan nothing more than vague promises. Kevin’s response at the time was that he did not claim all the answers. 3
What he does with it now
Invests on the failure he could not fix. Reinvest concentrates in Southern California on the bet that permitting stays slow and supply stays scarce, which is the wedge page’s thesis in political form.
One permit office for the whole state, and build. He lost, so now he bets on the shortage instead. 12
Simply put
✅ The plan
➡️ Take permitting away from 482 local offices and run it statewide. Build communities and connect them with tunnels and toll roads.
✅ The argument
➡️ Investors do not cause high prices. Cities that refuse to permit do.
✅ Now
➡️ He says California will stay hard to build in, so his company buys there.
Sources
Newswire, campaign announcement and platform, May 17, 2021, Open
Kevin's account, Housing, the core thesis: “High prices aren't driven by investors ... They're driven by high-paying jobs, weather, desirability, and low-growth city councils with patchwork permitting.” Read the excerpt
Orange County Register, August 6, 2021 (Bob Solomon: "nothing more than vague promises"), Open
