Why do you value democracy? My answer would be because democracy realizes liberal* ideas in a political process. But if liberal processes lead to illiberal outcomes, what do you do? I don't think you can argue that the past ~40 years of housing policy in California have produced liberal outcomes - there's been an immense concentration of wealth, particularly in property, displacement of underprivileged communities, exorbitant housing costs for many people, and hugely negative environmental impacts.

I'm willing to sacrifice liberal processes to get liberal outcomes. To somewhat invert the meaning of an aphorism, the means do not justify the ends.

* to be clear, we're talking about small-l liberal here, not "liberal" as in "left of center" as it is frequently (mis)used.