It is here that public-spiritedness is most useful and effective. Non-profit, private associations are its right loci. Not bureaus, bureaucrats, or inspectors. Let us be the activists for civil society, not political society. Buildings are collapsing under the weight of massive regulations.
Excessive regulations create perverse incentives.
If builders are going to bribe their way through building permits and completion certificates, it is irrational to obey some rules and disobey the rest. Build as you please, and pay off the authorities. To build and keep roofs over our heads, we need to rid them of regulations, not load them with more. Expansion of the housing market requires reduction in our well-intentioned laws concerning town planning, land acquisition and holdings, rentals, etc. These myriad constraints must be rationalised to lower the cost of housing, especially for the people at the bottom of the economic ladder.