Sacramento’s Housing Experiment Continues to Fail Local Communities

A new Redfin report reveals that a record 13.7% of U.S. home-sale agreements—over 42,000 deals—fell through in February, the highest February rate since tracking began in 2017. Buyers are walking away in greater numbers, signaling persistent market strain despite years of aggressive building.

Here in California, state lawmakers have flooded us with hundreds of bills overriding local zoning and forcing density on our neighborhoods. Yet, as Our Neighborhood Voices has long warned, simply building more housing has not lowered prices or improved affordability for working families. Instead, it has strained infrastructure, changed community character, and driven up costs for cities already spending millions to comply with these mandates.

This latest data underscores what residents already know: top-down state preemption ignores local realities and buyer hesitancy rooted in high prices, interest rates, and economic uncertainty. True solutions start with restoring local control over zoning and planning—so communities can shape development that fits their needs, not Sacramento’s one-size-fits-all agenda. Our neighborhoods deserve a voice, not more mandates.