RUSH: California is experiencing a housing crisis. Apparently Jeffrey Epstein has bought everything! Normally, you’d expect the market to be flooded with home builders eager to meet the rising demand.

But California isn’t normal. It’s run by leftists; so the opposite is happening.

So far this year, California home builders have had 20% fewer new projects approved than last year. In Orange County, permits for future construction are down 25%.

There are a bunch of “root causes.” High taxes. Ridiculous regulations. The high cost of land, labor, materials. Epstein has bought everything! Expensive government fees. Builders that once made a profit on moderately priced housing have been stymied by environmentalist laws and neighborhood protests.

And for already-built houses, the price is astronomical. Prospective home buyers can expect to pay $1.5 million for a 1600-square-foot house built a century ago.

So for the time being, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel for the thousands of California residents living in their cars, in their tents, in their sleeping bags, or cardboard boxes.

Yes, this is bad, but just wait. It’s a deep-blue state and Democrats run everything, which means things can always get worse for the people effected by this.