September 4, 2024 4:09PM # California Corruption and Zoning Reform By [Peter Van Doren](https://www.cato.org/people/peter-van-doren) --- SHARE Listen to this article Generated with [ ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/) AI technology. Loading the [Elevenlabs Text to Speech](https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech) AudioNative Player... ![zoning](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2024-09/zoning%20.jpg?itok=7wfMBO01) An important insight offered by libertarians is that attempts to suppress market forces through policy often result in illegal underground markets accompanied by corruption. The libertarian policy insight is to legalize the suppressed trade. The *New York Times* recently [described](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/29/us/california-corruption-huizar.html) evidence in support of this claim: corruption in Los Angeles. The FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office have [investigated](https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/former-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-ordered-serve-14-months-federal-prison) “a wide-ranging “pay-to-play” scheme in which developers bribed Los Angeles city officials to secure official acts to benefit their real estate projects.” A previous [blog post](https://www.cato.org/blog/housing-affordability-zoning-reform) as well as an [article](https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/2019/6/reg-v42n2-3.pdf) in *Regulation* have described proposals to allow developers to pay localities to alter their zoning constraints. Such proposals recognize that zoning rules have become de facto property rights. Currently, the negotiations between developers and politicians about zoning change are behind the scenes. The payments go to facilitators and politicians rather than neighboring property owners who suffer welfare losses from development. Allowing local governments to convert the current in-kind, opaque, underground market for zoning change into an explicit legal exchange of cash for density would facilitate development and eliminate corruption. ##### Related Tags [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Libertarianism](https://www.cato.org/libertarianism) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).