<p>The lack of affordable housing is especially prevalent in coastal California, where some pay more than $1,000 a month just for a bed. ;</p>
<p>According to a recent survey, <strong>$3,500</strong> is the average monthly rent for a person living in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco. Others are paying <strong>$1,800</strong> just to rent a bunk bed. The rest of the Bay Area is similar, with particularly high prices in Palo Alto and San Mateo. ;</p>
<p>San Mateo held a public meeting recently to discuss the lack of affordable housing, which is supposedly a complex issue. In reality, the &#8220;problem&rdquo; is not complex. It&rsquo;s a simple effect of supply and demand: when an increase in population results in the demand for more ;housing &ndash; but the government prevents houses from being built &ndash; the price of existing housing will go up. ;</p>
<p>Apartments in the San Francisco have been three or four times more expensive than the national average since the 1970s &ndash; <strong>but why? ;</strong></p>
<p>Local laws and policies have prevented Californians from building in the name of preserving land. But the environmental activists in California are usually so well off they don&rsquo;t have to worry about high rents. ;</p>
<p>Others complain that there&rsquo;s just no more room in coastal California, but anyone who has driven on Highway 280 from Palo Alto to San Francisco knows this isn&rsquo;t true (image above). ;</p>
<p>Today, more than half of the land that makes up San Mateo is off-limits for building. Until this is changed, the price of housing will not go down. ;</p>
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