Overview

"A century of policy mistakes ruined America's cities and created an unprecedented housing crisis. For many families, homelessness is no longer someone else's problem. It is right around the corner, a real threat in their own immediate future. Our housing crisis is the result of a long history of government policies, court cases, and political manipulation. While these disparate causes make up a tangled web, they have one surprising root: the attack on private property rights. For more than a century, government policies and court decisions have attacked, undermined, and eroded private property rights. Whether it be exclusionary zoning, eminent domain abuse, rent control, or excessive environmental regulations, the cumulative impact of these assaults on private property is that it's become increasingly difficult-or even impossible-to build adequate housing supplies to meet market demands. We are fast approaching a time when millions of typical Americans will, quite literally, have nowhere to live. Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America's Housing Crisis, takes readers through the history of how we got here. With stories going back to the Civil War, the early twentieth century, and the ill-fated ""urban renewal"" movement of the 1950s, Nowhere to Live reveals how the government layered mistake upon mistake to create the current crisis. It also provides a way out: not by government fiat, but through the restoration of private property rights."

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9781510781535

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Reviews

"""A thorough exposition of the fundamental importance of property rights coupled with a biting and well-documented indictment of superfluous governmental regulation which not only stifles such rights but also leads to a critical shortage of affordable housing."" --David L. Callies, FAICP, emeritus professor of Law, University of Hawaii ""In Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America's Housing Crisis, Jim Burling takes on what perhaps is the most vexing problem in our society today. The term 'affordable housing' relates to the acute shortage of housing in America that meets the varying needs of diverse groups of people. The causes are 'hidden' mostly because those advantaged by the current system don't want us to see them. Burling, a leading property rights lawyer, presents a masterful description of American regulation of land use, starting with judicial prohibitions of actual nuisances, through government regulations designed to prevent nuisances, through broad rules precluding apartment houses whose very presence, and possibly lower-class or non-white inhabitants, would be deemed detrimental by more affluent area homeowners. Similarly, explaining legal principles in easy-to-follow English, Burling illustrates how traditional constraints on water and air pollution have been expanded through mazes of incremental regulations and application requirements. Throughout, government attempts to pass the costs of favored policies from taxation to indirect exactions on housing producers and purchasers have made the building of needed homes prohibitive, or at least unnecessarily expensive and time consuming. Jim Burling's well-articulated solution harnesses market actions of landowners, builders, and erstwhile consumers to satisfy our pressing housing needs. Nowhere to Live is a riveting book that will be a much-needed addition to the housing debate."" --Steven J. Eagle, professor emeritus of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University ""Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America's Housing Crisis doesn't just make the general point that regulation has led to our housing crisis but actually pulls together compelling evidence both across time and across different types of government intervention. It's easy to see how outright bans on construction would, in fact, impede construction, but readers will be surprised to learn the blatantly racist origins of much of zoning laws and the large role that eminent domain has played in reducing housing. Although land regulation can be a dry subject, Burling has turned it into an engaging story where the reader wants to turn the page and learn what happens next."" --Dana Berliner, senior vice president and litigation director, Institute for Justice ""In case you ever wondered how we got to the point where we could no longer house our population, look no farther. In this compact volume, Jim Burling examines the various threads of government policy that have led us to this predicament. Here, you will see how reactions to race, class, nationality, faith and fear all combined through various local, state and national policies--effectuated through planning and zoning laws--to make housing unaffordable for some and generally unavailable for others. It is a sobering read and points the finger directly at the government agencies responsible. As Walt Kelly's Pogo put it when I was growing up, 'we have met the enemy and he is us.'"" --Michael Berger, senior counsel, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP ""Jim Burling is one of America's leading property rights litigators. In this book, he offers an outstanding overview of the law and history behind the policies underlying the nation's housing crisis. Essential reading for anyone interested in the most important property rights and land use issue facing the United States today."" --Ilya Somin, professor of Law, George Mason University"

Author Information

James S. Burling is vice president for Legal Affairs at Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento. He has argued cases nationwide including before the Supreme Court. He received a BA from Hamilton College, a MS from Brown University, and a JD from the University of Arizona. He has spoken and written about property rights nationwide.

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