The Henry George Program

Simon McKenna, a member of the Henry George Foundation and a contributor to Land & Liberty magazine, has been advising the QPSW (Quaker Peace & Social Witness Central Committee) on their new economy project. What would a more moral economy look like, with reference to land, and why does Simon believe that talk about natural rights is unlikely to move us in a positive direction?

Jordan Grimes is an activist for housing and transporation in San Mateo, where efforts to add housing capacity are often met with hostility from homeowners, who often trace the city's problems to an influx of tech workers. Jordan, though, is a San Matean born and raised. Paul Leone also joins the program to talk about how San Mateo thwarts affordable housing. We talk process and policy, including the extension of Measure P, to set a hard limit on possible density.

We talk Sunnyvale with Richard Mehlinger of Livable Sunnyvale, and Max Kapczynski of Palo Alto Forward. Sunnyvale still has a corn field, which is going to be developed... into single family homes (?!?!?!). We talk why, as well as the history and latest with the evictions of the Blue Bonnet mobile home park, to be turned into relatively low-density townhomes. Who bears the weight of change in Sunnyvale, and why? Too, we talk about the future of expanding tenant protections to Sunnyvale renters through a 12-Month Lease program, and how Catholic social teachings have influenced Richard's thinking.

Gregory Stevens was a pastor at Palo Alto First Baptist until a series of tweets about Palo Alto's failure to actually address its moral failings was shared with City Council, leading to his resignation. He's on to talk about the anarchist, anti-capitalist message of Christ, what it means to actually practice this moral vision, and why Palo Alto isn't doing it.

Glen Weyl is a co-author of a new book dedicated to William Vickrey, embued with the spirit of Henry George, and full of bold ideas to use economic policy in innovative ways to give workers the share they deserve and to bring forward a fairer world. We discuss these policies, including how they overlap and depart from the idea of the original land value tax.

San Jose is one of the few places in the Bay Area that has more housing than jobs. San Jose has a seriously gnarly budget situation. How are these two things related? Asn Ndiaye has plenty to say.

Michael Goldman is a councilperson for Sunnyvale City Council. We recently had an extensive conversation about affordable housing at a Denny's after a council meeting, and are extended it onto the airwaves. It certainly seems that we disagree fundamentally about everything, but after we share ideas, what can we learn? Plenty of talk about urban economics and land markets.

Max Kapczynski of Palo Alto Forward is back, to talk about recent goings-on in Palo Alto. An affordable housing overlay made its way through council, but what does it *really* mean about the housing situation at large. We expand this into a conversation about developers, and how money is made. Some claim they're no different than anybody else offering a service, and some claim that their form of making money is inherently immoral. Who's right?

We talk with Asn Ndiaye about what leftist housing policy means, analyze the PPP Social Housing policy paper that everybody's talking about, and find time to discuss the importance of real estate in Sex and the City.

Paul Leone of the non-profit Midpen Housing Corporation is on to talk about the intricate, complex systems that produce affordable housing today. Max Kapczynski is back, as questions are asked about how to understand how policy impacts the production of affordable housing, and how affordable housing in California can work better.