The Strong Towns Podcast Balancing Big Experiments And Neighborhood Fixes In California Housing
Apr 3, 2026
Jim Wunderman, president of California Forever and longtime Bay Area business leader, outlines plans for a new planned city in Solano County and large-scale solutions to California’s housing-job imbalance. Discussion contrasts building a brand-new town with maturing existing neighborhoods. Topics include mid-rise housing, CEQA and permitting reform, local finance challenges, and mobilizing pro-housing coalitions.
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Housing Plays Two Incompatible Financial Roles
- Housing can't be both a broadly appreciating financial asset and broadly affordable at the same time.
- Chuck Marohn explains the historic shift after the Great Depression made federal-backed long mortgages the norm, which favored price appreciation over affordability.
Postwar Policy Turned Housing Into An Appreciating Asset
- Federal policy after the Great Depression shifted housing from a local, adaptable market to a nationally financed, appreciating asset.
- Chuck Marohn traces policy choices like long-term federal mortgages and securitization that increased price stability then appreciation incentives.
Capital Markets, Not Houses, Drive Housing Supply
- The mortgage and capital markets, not the physical houses, drive modern housing outcomes.
- Chuck Marohn says the buyer becomes the product because mortgage-backed securities and capital supply steer what gets financed and built.
