Podcast: Will California rethink housing density because of COVID-19?

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It was already difficult for urbanists to convince Californians that density was the only feasible way out of the state’s crippling housing crisis.

Multiple attempts to make it easier to build apartment buildings next to job centers and mass transit have failed over the past four years, partly because of the kneejerk allergy some Californians have to the thought of cities looking more like tamed-down versions of New York and less like the sepia-toned memories of picket fences, backyard pools and two-car garages once synonymous with the state’s appeal.

Now California density evangelists are running into a new line of opposition: whether density makes for a breeding ground for novel coronavirus.

On this episode of “Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast”, CalMatters’ Matt Levin and the Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon discuss this new chapter in California’s ongoing density debate, while separating fact from myth on the relationship between dense housing and COVID-19. Then, an interview with the New York Times’ Conor Dougherty on his new book, “Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America.”