The UC Berkeley Possibility Lab’s report, What Would It Take to Make Housing, Energy, and Transportation Affordable in California?, argues that affordability is not a resource problem but a policy choice shaped by decades of scarcity-driven decision-making. Drawing on the Abundance Policy Report Series, the report features expert perspectives on housing, transportation, and energy to outline how California can move beyond zero-sum thinking and toward systems that meet people’s everyday needs.
Luskin Professor Paavo Monkkonen focuses on housing, calling for a paradigm shift in how California defines and builds homes. He argues that regulatory barriers and neighborhood opposition have constrained supply and limited housing options. Monkkonen advocates prioritizing high-quality multifamily housing and expanding the “missing middle” to create medium-density, mixed-use neighborhoods that support affordability, shared amenities, and new pathways to homeownership—reframing housing growth as a benefit rather than a threat.
Read the full CalMatters article in Knowledge Hub.
