The cost of housing is a supply and demand issue. There are some levers local governments can pull to provide more affordable housing, but they should mostly stay out of the way. For example, once a project is approved, obtaining a building permit should not take weeks or months. We need to improve and streamline this process because time is money and adds to the cost of the project.The City Master Plan should be updated to reflect best practices for supporting and building strong communities and maintaining quality of life. The Master Plan is the blueprint of where, what, and how we should move our city forward; we need to reevaluate it often to reflect a vision of how to best support our residents.
I strongly support personal property rights and have always voted against increasing the government’s ability to claim eminent domain.