# The density delusion

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2018-03-14

california, california-housing, cities, housing, housing-policy, joel-kotkin, land-use, low-income-housing, orange-county, single-family-home, suburbia, transit, uncategorized, urbanism, wendell-cox

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Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox recently published a piece in the Orange County Register called, “[California’s housing crisis and the density delusion](https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/10/the-density-delusion-of-californias-housing-crisis/).” I’m sure you can guess where this is going, even if you don’t follow [the work of Joel Kotkin](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/153365205428/the-human-city). But if you do, you will know that he is an ardent supporter of suburbia and the single-family home.  

Here is an excerpt from the article:

> _In reality, the YIMBY’s suggestion that new, dense housing will improve affordability for all is patently absurd. Decades of densification in Los Angeles has seen ever higher rents, displacing low-income, especially minority households. Many former transit customers have been driven to lower-rent areas with less transit service, precipitating a massive decline in ridership, even as billions continue to be spent building new rail lines._ [_The Wiener Bill_](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/169502926563/california-state-senator-wants-to-mandate-denser) _\[my link, not theirs\] could exacerbate this trend, and likely increase the need for low-income housing, already well beyond the capability of public coffers._  

I fully appreciate the argument that high-density housing isn’t for everyone and that we shouldn’t be “forcing everyone back to the ‘glory’ days of the city of tenements.” But I disagree with many of their points, including the argument that density doesn’t encourage transit ridership. Density isn’t everything, but it’s an important something.

The article is definitely worth a read, particularly if you disagree with their positions. That’s how you avoid [confirmation bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias). I was trying to keep that in mind as I read it. Maybe it worked.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/the-density-delusion)*