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simple.

30 years ago the wants were managable. the average house sq footage was probably 1500. my father built a brand-new house for us in 1965 and it was 1000 sq ft. when i moved to california, i had a girl friend in long beach, near mcdonnell douglas, that had inherited part of the family home, and had paid off her siblings for the rest. after i got acquainted with the house, built circa 1950s, i noticed that there were only 2 bedrooms,and one bath, but she had 2 brothers. i inquired, where did you sleep? she said, my parents had the master bedroom, my brothers shared the second bedroom, and i slept on the day room couch.

this was normal in the 1950s. after ww2 fathers were usually the only working parent, the mother stayed home. on this one salary southern californians in the booming 50's could afford a new house, one new family car, a swimming pool, a yearly vacation, etc. life was good.

but tastes and wants have changed in the intervening years:

today, people in california, are building HUGE houses, 4-5 bedrooms, 2 1/2-3 baths, etc. some middle class homes now have his and her bathrooms for the master bedroom. "gotta have a weight room", etc.want larger spaces. one bath would not be acceptable in today's culture. sharing bedrooms for most middle class kids would be an issue; sometimes you read in the papers about new college freshmen, frustrated with sharing dorm rooms; they had never shared a room before. also, in california buying the largest house you can afford, assures security from other races and gangs.

and third, the housing development companies enjoy larger profits from 4-5 bedroom houses because the so-called "footprint" is approximately the same size. they make much more money from the larger house than a two bedroom house. a two bedroom home might allow less fortunate, undesirables access to the neighborhood; knowing recent judicial decisions, city ordinances concerning the number of inhabitants are not enforced. middle class californians do not want to live in neighborhoods where 15 cars grace one home, some, of course, parked on the lawns.

finally, fourth, environmentalists, nimby's, opportunist lawyers, and democrat policy officials all contribute to higher housing costs. today's reality is that it can take 5 years to push through a new housing development. the lawyer costs are astronomical. only the largest developers need apply.

in sum, life has changed dramatically. now, most families cannot afford a new home unless both parents are working. this means that the kids have substantial amounts of time to get into trouble. also, democrats and unions have pretty much outlawed kids from working. when i was a kid everyone i knew worked after school and on the weekends and in the summers. no more. most southern california kids, if their parents are comfortable, do not work. as bill handel of radio kfi, los angeles, said: my kids are not going flip burgers. the implication is, that's for kids less fortunate, and most probably immigrants.