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(feasibility) at the new price level, and its costs are not locked in at the lower levels. Rent seekers, such as landowners selling developable land, cities exercising their State given right to exact as much as possible for the benefit of the community, neighbors intent on maximizing homevoter values, and environmental problems crying for mitigation, all combine to bring costs up from below to absorb the increased price level. And then the cycle repeats at the new price level! The Pleasanton draft 2023-2031 Housing Element describes the effect of its approval delays as follows: "However, the cost to complete a project is not likely to affect the price of homes, as the price of housing is based on what the market is willing to bear, and the added costs are more likely to reduce the profit for the property owner rather than increase the price of a housing unit on the market." H.E. Appendix C, p. 25 The authors of Pleasanton's draft Housing Element naively assume (or cynically claim) their delays and exactions are not the cause of the higher price levels. The impact of State HCD using RHNA to leverage most California cities into imposing inclusionary rent controls appears to be the primary reason California has, once again, somehow, managed to spectacularly underperform the entire country in providing a decent place to live at a reasonable price for its citizens, especially the millennial generation. This can be changed at the local level. Background for the 2023-2031 RHNA Cycle The 2023-2031 RHNA Cycle starts with a far different situation than the 2014-2022 RHNA Cycle. In 2014, California and the country were just emerging from a deep and extended recession. But, the coming RHNA Cycle comes after more than a decade of solid economic growth in both California and the U.S. a. Substantial Pro-housing Legislation Early in the 2014-2022 RHNA Cycle, several years of runaway housing inflation convinced the State Legislature (correctly) that local government restrictions on housing supply were the primary cause of that housing inflation. What followed was year after year of housing legislation designed to force local governments to approve more housing, especially higher density housing. Single family zoning has been overridden by State laws requiring localities to allow additional Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU), subdivision of single family lots as of right, mandatory approval of high density projects near transit stops, limitations on local parking requirements, as of right zoning with only objective standards for design review, growth management ordinances highly restricted, and on and on. And, there has been a gradual increase in housing supply over this RHNA Cycle (Exhibit H at Bates p. 58), but to only about one third the construction rate during the mid-1980's when the baby boomers were getting their houses.