Changes to the way state-imposed zoning quotas for new housing units are calculated have created unnecessarily high allotments throughout Southern California, critics say. The changes, made “behind the scenes” in 2019, have tripled the number of homes required to be built in the Southern California region over the next eight-year cycle to more than 1.3 million, a burden some local officials say is unreasonable. Proponents say the change was needed to make the assessment more accurately reflect regional needs—but local officials argue the changes have more to do with zoning issues than affordable housing units, and say the calculations have been created to substantiate an agenda rather than solve a crisis. Paavo Monkkonen, associate professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) Luskin School of Public Affairs, told The Epoch Times cities are going to have to zone for higher density housing to meet …