Who Is Responsible for the U.S. Housing Crisis? | Amanpour and Company

Jerusalem Demsas, staff writer at The Atlantic, calls the American housing market a "national tragedy." In her new book, "On the Housing Crisis: Land, Development, Democracy," Demsas addresses questions of class segregation and why it is so difficult to find an affordable home. The author sits down with Hari Sreenivasan.

Originally aired on September 13, 2024

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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.

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[markvogel]

Attention Kamala Harris: Hire this bright, knowledgable young person to help with the national housing crisis.

[Erik_The_Viking]

We effectively made building housing illegal, especially low-income housing. Add in private equity, "foreign investors", building codes, NIMBYs, politics, local laws, heavy costs with permits, and other issues that have made it impossible to build. She brought up a great point about seniors being stuck in their homes because they have nowhere to go.

[TEPO--]

Excellent insights, knowledge and very helpful perspective, thank you. Jerusalem, I look forward to reading your book as a senior that has been baffled, unclear and heartbroken while recognizing the housing crisis across our county for years. At 61 years, this was not such a factor throughout most of my life. Witnessing extremely hard working people unable to buy a home let alone be "housed" has been devastating and to some degree normalized. To be able to build millions of homes that are not super sized/grotesque in scale, yet rather for quality of life, family affordability and a sense community in mind could be a magnificent renaissance for our nation and most certainly our hearts.

Thank you for your work, much appreciated.

[beckyraskin]

I don't usually watch amanpour, but I'm glad I caught this video. I'm a 71 year old retired woman. I have been homeless for about a year. I'm one of the lucky ones because I have a van I can sleep in. No running water and no toilet or shower. It's not easy, but the real problem for me is the cold weather. I'm thinking of going south somewhere for the winter. "WINTER IS COMING"

[FPOAK]

A Jerusalem Demsas book on housing and it's only $10? Copped in a heartbeat. She's the most important reporter in the country right now

[inthehouse]

After investing in 5 residential rental properties in the 2000's, what I see happening now is greed. Private equity firms and large investment corps are gobbling up properties for short-term vacation rentals. Why rent to someone for a month when you can rent by the night and double your profits. Or they just hold them vacant until they appreciate. This strangles availability and drives up property values. Neighborhoods with what used to be affordable housing are also being destroyed by developers who lobby for building codes that allow them to tear down affordable homes, put up 3-story slot homes from lot line to lot line, and sell them for 4 times the price of the home that was there. It's also pathetic to drive through the mega-mansion suburbs full of 4k+ sq ft homes with one or two people living in them now that the children have grown. Those gigantic homes could have a few generations of family members, but instead, every one of their kids also has to have a home of their own. I was happy to rent to low and middle-income families who were great tenants. But, housing is not about providing homes anymore, like everything in this country it's about making money.

[russh]

Need to look at all the housing taken off the market for Airbnb and other short term rentals. Investment companies buying up large swaths of housing for investment purposes isn’t helping the situation either. Also, we all know where affordable housing goes when it’s available. It rarely goes to the people that need them.

[jabbermocky]

My grandfather was a developer and builder of small starter homes in the 1950s through early 70s. He would be appalled by the restrictions on new housing because of smaller floorspace. The home he built for my grandmother and himself was a cozy little nest with only 2 bedrooms and one bath. It was plenty. Unfortunately, he passed away at 61 in the middle of another project. Bigger isn't better. It's just more restrictive and costly.

[sarahhaley]

Let this one marinate; No one was held accountable for the mortgage crisis that caused the housing crisis, but it’s criminal to be homeless, now.
It’s not the permits.

[jenniferburns]

One issue in my community is that existing homes in the 1200-1800 square feet range are being bought up by companies as rental properties. The people who would buy them (young couples and families, seniors) end up renting, so they can't build equity, have no control over the condition of the home or the ever increasing rent. The only new houses, condos, and apartments being built are high end so there is almost no entry-level option. I would also love to see more building of duplexes, as this would allow people to purchase a home that provides some income, ensure on-site landlords, increase rental stock, and increase housing density.

[janicepalesch]

This young woman missed entirely the biggest factor that has caused loss of affordable housing in this country: GENTRIFICATION. Treating housing as though it were a COMMODITY - as opposed to a place where people can raise their families and live out their lives - is also an equal opportunity destroyer. This issue is not about race; it is about money and GREED.

I live in a small home in a lower middle-class neighborhood in the suburbs. We moved here because my husband got a job in this municipality. We paid $27, 100 for our house in 1971. Our real estate taxes were about $760/yr. Today, the valuation attached to my house is almost $300, 000, and my taxes are $3, 000/yr. That property valuation is fantasy. Everything in my house is original to the house. I never had the money to remodel or install any new anything. But, houses exactly like mine - all built at the same time - have zoomed up in valuation. Why? A minor factor is that some new owners remodeled (although there is little remodeling anyone can do with small rooms in a small house).

The major factor that has driven this affordable housing disaster is, when houses were up for sale, buyers FAR outbid the asking prices. Those buyers never intended to actually live here and raise their families here. They intended to use these houses as COMMODITIES, making a few changes to the house, then turning it around for a quick sale to yet another person, who intended to use it the same way and make high profit on it, out-bidding the asking price, and ditch it the same way. One couple stayed in a house across the street for only 4 months before re-selling it at a much higher price. I quit bothering to get to know any of the "new neighbors". They weren't neighbors; they were leeches, bleeding long-time neighbors dry. With each new improvement and hugely-increased purchase price came MUCH higher taxes for the long-term residents, who are now trying to survive in their homes on tiny Social Security checks. The hugely increased taxes are eating many of us alive. We can't sell and go anywhere else. THIS WAS affordable housing with low taxes when we bought these homes. Our homes have been ARTIFICIALLY increased in property valuation and taxes solely because of those commodity leeches. Young couples starting out can't afford these houses now. People in the same financial class my husband and I were in when we bought this house could never buy it. These homes are now unaffordable for low middle-class earners. They have been ARTIFICIALLY priced out of this market.

Another huge problem that is causing the crisis of unaffordable housing is that wealthy people are buying older, perfectly good homes with plenty of rooms in lower middle-class neighborhoods, tearing them down, and erecting mansions on those lots. We have lost a LOT of affordable housing this way in my large suburban area. Entire streets have gone through this sort of transition. Meanwhile, the new homes there cause a HUGE increase in the value of surrounding homes with a commensurate increase in taxes on those homes. Many of those older residents are having a tough financial time keeping up with the artificially-increased valuation and taxes on their properties, which have not changed. Local, county, and state elected officials will do nothing about it because these kinds of activities put much more money from taxes into their pockets, even if it drives old people out of their homes and even if it makes housing unaffordable.

All of these factors have contributed to the housing crisis. None of these activities are based on race, at least in my area (although they ave been in parts of the City). Using homes for profit must be curtailed. No matter how many affordable homes the government causes to be built, "entrepreneurs" like those I've described will eventually come along and do the very same things to them, treating them as commodities, and driving up the prices of the homes, making those homes unaffordable, too. If Kamala Harris wants to give small business startups $50, 000, I hope to heaven that she does NOT allow the money to be used like this.

[timbly]

When a corporation makes millions of dollars reported quarterly and they lay off many workers and/or don't pay them well with benefit's it's easy to know who's really controlling our economy and the wealth gap. Not the Federal Government.

[AcPh-ncvz]

I really disagree that underbuilding is the problem. I think the problem is the way the real estate sector is structured. When it is very easy for some people to borrow a lot of money the prices go up. It’s not supply. It’s inflation.

Where I live, in Southern Maine, we have had explosive building in the past five years. My home town is unrecognizable. Lots with under a half acre now have multiple houses on them. One house looks directly into the back of another. I sold my home of 17 years because I could not stand to see what my neighborhood was looking like with tall, narrow buildings popping up wherever they could fit. Many of these buildings are EMPTY for 4 months of the year. For the rest of the year, they are second homes and vacation rentals.

If you build more housing in my town, it will be the same. The buildings will not go to people who need a full time home. They will be investments.

[Himmiefan]

Here in Nashville, new buildings closer to town are usually 1 million or more. More affordable housing is being pushed further and further out forcing people to drive 45 minutes to an hour to reach the downtown area. This is a problem. There's also the issues of private equity buying up houses and renting them out.

[ohnezuckerohnefett]

Two words: Private Equity. We need to acknowledge that the rise of PE correlates with all aspects of life that have gotten worse over the last two decades.

[Keepitkind]

Don't let corporations buy up all the housing!

[pictureworksdenver]

To be sure, the regulatory hurdles, land use constraints, geographic demand mismatches and supply/demand imbalances that Demsas describes all feed the housing crisis, but it is striking how the primary driver of housing unaffordability - RE asset price inflation - aka the financialization of housing via collateralized debt based money (with it's inherent and embedded growth obligations) - is not mentioned or even recognized. Because we fail to understand the nature of money itself, we cannot and will not understand why house price inflation is a feature, not a bug.

[summerrain]

What I see here in New England is many houses sitting empty. No one can afford them. This has jacked up rent because those families who would have purchased a home are now renting apartments.

[ripmomcovid]

Laws have to be changed. We need more tiny homes and efficiency apartments that are more affordable so that people can downsize affordably. There should be limits set on how high rents can be raised according to square footage. Builders want to build more expensive homes rather than affordable homes. My efficency apartment is now costing $800, half of my wages, at age 60. That's with a doctorate and license.

[JamaicaYam]

Miss Jerusalem, thank you for breaking down the multiple layers surrounding the housing crisis. I hope President-elect Harris hires you in some capacity. Best wishes on your new book. 👩🏾‍💻