Nowhere to Live | The Hidden Story of America's Housing Crisis

What you know about the housing crisis is wrong.

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A century of policy mistakes ruined America’s cities and created an unprecedented housing crisis.

For many families, homelessness is no longer someone else’s problem. It is right around the corner, a real threat in their own immediate future. Our housing crisis is the result of a long history of government policies, court cases, and political manipulation. While these disparate causes make up a tangled web, they have one surprising root: the attack on private property rights. For more than a century, government policies and court decisions have attacked, undermined, and eroded private property rights. Whether it be exclusionary zoning, eminent domain abuse, rent control, or excessive environmental regulations, the cumulative impact of these assaults on private property is that it’s become increasingly difficult—or even impossible—to build adequate housing supplies to meet market demands. We are fast approaching a time when millions of typical Americans will, quite literally, have nowhere to live.

About the Author

James S. Burling has been a property rights attorney for over 40 years at Pacific Legal Foundation, a national public interest law firm that defends Americans from government overreach and abuse. In 2001 he won a major Supreme Court case, Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, which affirmed that rights in regulated property do not disappear when land is bought and sold. In 2022 he was awarded the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize at the William & Mary College of Law. He lives in Orangevale, California.

James S. Burling

Reviews

“Jim Burling is one of America’s leading property rights litigators. In this book, he offers an outstanding overview of the law and history behind the policies underlying the nation’s housing crisis. Essential reading for anyone interested in the most important property rights and land use issue facing the United States today.”

Ilya Somin, Professor of Law

George Mason University

“Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis doesn’t just make the general point that regulation has led to our housing crisis but actually pulls together compelling evidence both across time and across different types of government intervention. It’s easy to see how outright bans on construction would, in fact, impede construction, but readers will be surprised to learn the blatantly racist origins of much of zoning laws and the large role that eminent domain has played in reducing housing. Although land regulation can be a dry subject, Burling has turned it into an engaging story where the reader wants to turn the page and learn what happens next.”

Dana Berliner, Senior Vice President and Litigation Director

Institute for Justice

“In case you ever wondered how we got to the point where we could no longer house our population, look no farther. In this compact volume, Jim Burling examines the various threads of government policy that have led us to this predicament. Here, you will see how reactions to race, class, nationality, faith and fear all combined through various local, state and national policies – effectuated through planning and zoning laws – to make housing unaffordable for some and generally unavailable for others. It is a sobering read and points the finger directly at the government agencies responsible. As Walt Kelly’s Pogo put it when I was growing up, ‘we have met the enemy and he is us.’”

Michael Berger, Senior Counsel

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

“In Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis, Jim Burling takes on what perhaps is the most vexing problem in our society today. The term ‘affordable housing’ relates to the acute shortage of housing in America that meets the varying needs of diverse groups of people. The causes are “hidden” mostly because those advantaged by the current system don’t want us to see them. Burling, a leading property rights lawyer, presents a masterful description of American regulation of land use, starting with judicial prohibitions of actual nuisances, through government regulations designed to prevent nuisances, through broad rules precluding apartment houses whose very presence, and possibly lower-class or non-white inhabitants, would be deemed detrimental by more affluent area homeowners. Similarly, explaining legal principles in easy to follow English, Burling illustrates how traditional constraints on water and air pollution have been expanded through mazes of incremental regulations and application requirements. Throughout, government attempts to pass the costs of favored policies from taxation to indirect exactions on housing producers and purchasers have made the building of needed homes prohibitive, or at least unnecessarily expensive and time consuming.

Jim Burling’s well-articulated solution harnesses market actions of landowners, builders, and erstwhile consumers to satisfy our pressing housing needs. Nowhere to Live is a riveting book that will be a much-needed addition to the housing debate.”

Steven J. Eagle, Senior Counsel

Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University

“A thorough exposition of the fundamental importance of property rights coupled with a biting and well-documented indictment of superfluous governmental regulation which not only stifles such rights but also leads to a critical shortage of affordable housing.”

David L. Callies, FAICP

Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Hawaii

“James Burling has been one of America’s most effective defenders of property rights for more than four decades, and in Nowhere to Live, he offers a clear and compelling account of the roots of America’s housing crisis in misguided—and sometimes ill-intentioned—departures from basic principles of property law. The book is comprehensive and nuanced, without ever losing steam or focus, and I learned a lot from reading it.  Nowhere to Live is essential reading not only for legal experts but for interested citizens seeking to understand the dynamics of America’s housing crunch and the role of private property in a flourishing society.”

James Y. Stern, Professor of Law

Director, William & Mary Property Rights Project

Pacific Legal Foundation

Since its founding in 1973, Pacific Legal Foundation has protected property rights as a top priority. In case after case—including 18 victories before the Supreme Court—PLF fights for Americans whose rights have been violated by government overreach.

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