California’s housing crisis is real, and so is the need to build clean energy infrastructure at scale. But blaming CEQA — the California Environmental Quality Act — for our state’s lack of housing or climate progress is not only inaccurate, it’s dangerous.
In recent commentaries and podcasts, columnist Ezra Klein argues that CEQA is a well-meaning law gone wrong — a tool now weaponized to block housing and transit. His argument is gaining traction in some circles. But it’s based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what CEQA does, and what’s really holding back progress.
CEQA is not the reason California — or San Diego — struggles to build housing. According to the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, nearly 90% of housing projects in the state are either exempt from CEQA or qualify for streamlined review. Less than 2% of all projects are challenged in court. That’s not a systemic bottleneck. The real hurdles lie in outdated zoning, local opposition, and decades of underinvestment in affordable housing and transit infrastructure…