The Housing Crisis in America Why There Aren't Enough Homes for Families

Excerpt from Professor Wolff's "Wolff Responds" dated June 26, 2024 offering his thoughts on the housing crisis plaguing the United States

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[kirksink]

speaks the truth more than anyone else

[MarionGrisdale]

You are correct ! It was Reaganomics under Reagan where the detour from the right path took place ! Thank you for your accurate information ! We all need to focus on our own issues ! NO MORE FOREVER WARS !!

[Juju-qf]

The US has forgotten what a livable wage means.

[safirahmed]

The same in UK started by Margaret Thatcher and continued ever since 1979.

[susangalloway]

I agree.So why did people vote for two billionaires to fix it!

[carycunningham]

A great way to have a “housing shortage” is to have Wall Street buy up a significant portion of the housing stock; simultaneously reducing the supply while increasing the price.

[jocelynevkb]

Same sad story in Australia. No affordable homes for the young people, unless they inherit.

[cindyp]

Absolutely!! I knew something was terribly wrong in the 80s when my husband & I were both educated and working full-time but couldn't afford to buy a house or have more than one child!! That changed our future. It's only gotten worse. And crushed our society. While we kept on working believing we could get there like our parents, the millennials know it's not going to happen. The demoralization has stunted the growth of Americans. We're angry & aggressive, but most don't realize why or who to blame?! So they blame immigrants & minorities.

[CuteComments]

No wonder I can’t keep a stable roof over my head . I make too much for assistance but not enough to survive🤦🏾‍♀️

[JM-eryl]

There are plenty of homes, but Wall Street has artificially increased the price so much, average families can't afford them. Firms like Black Rock and Vanguard should not be allowed to purchase residential property.

[ninjaantelope]

There is actually a surplus of homes. But they are unaffordable for majority of Americans.

[jabbadabbajew]

Neoliberalism baby. Thanks go to the Chicago school of economics for its creation.

[BigHeadClan]

Starting in the 90s we started building fewer homes.
Our total disposable income also started falling behind.

After 2008 US/Canadian Governments started offering ultra low mortgages that were easy to qualify for.

This led to a huge increase in disposable income for buyers, which then encouraged Developers to build larger more feature rich homes for bigger profit margins driving up cost.

Larger homes also take longer, which means there are fewer on the market so prices go up.

The government provides even larger mortgages to buyers so they can keep buying homes and the cycle repeats until somewhere in that vicious cycle something gives out.

In our case it was interest rates after COVID.

[carlitaticconi]

This is a result of the massive distortions in our financial system that make it so that the government money press fuels an asset bubble, particularly in property. If the debasement were not so aggressive, people would not be so incentivized to park their savings in homes, driving up prices artificially.

[thomasreilly]

1 Rip up zonal planning
2. Invest in public transport
3 invest in low rise apartment buildings with 1-4 bedrooms that people can swap as their families grow and down scale in the same area.

[lindamcgregor]

In China and Russia people r happy to have a small apartment but in USA they want the American dream, , a large house with 2 garages and 2 cars. But supply and demand means that the type of salary that can support such luxuries can’t be easily obtained in USA in 2024.

[jason]

Now that real-estate billionaire Mr. Trump is the president, all the troubles will be solved… right? He must be super specialist at this field 😂

[theanomaloushousewife]

Gen X knows this, but good luck convincing the boomers. We haven't been able to do it since forever. BOOTSTRAPS!

[TroyKeeling-xt]

I bought two log skidders to produce wood for homes. I was attached in every direction. The log price has been 333 a thousand mmbf since 1982.

[fllicksick]

It’s wild because we could fit the entire human race in Texas with plenty of space per person