The New York Housing Shortage and Scarano

Since 1969, New York City has, as a matter of law, been suffering from "an acute housing shortage" that constitutes a "grave emergency." Now a judge, at the behest of the city's building department, has barred a residential architect from practice for "deliberately overbuilding." The New York Times reports that the architect, Robert Scarano, was cited for submitting misleading statements "in order to build bigger structures than were permitted." With the government restricting the size of apartment buildings -- i.e., the supply of apartments -- to prevent "overbuilding," is it any surprise that there is a housing shortage? Instead of allowing property owners to build big apartment buildings, the city spends money on "affordable housing" to try to correct for the lack of supply. Yet again, it takes a government program to undo the effects of another government program.