Housing affordability has become a big problem in recent years, driven in part by immense amounts of new money creation. As money loses its value, those who hold it look to put their money in assets that better hold their value. Real estate and housing is a popular destination for a declining currency. Over the past century, purchasing a home has rarely been less affordable.
Yet, not everyone can aspire to own a home due to a variety of circumstances. While homeownership is appropriate for many, a well functioning housing market also provides housing for the lower-income members of society, such as the non-working elderly, the disabled, and the unlucky. Moreover, young workers just starting out are going to need low-cost housing.
Yet, it is clear that many local markets—and housing markets are generally very local in nature—are not providing a supply to match the demand. This is especially acute at the lowest income levels, and as a result, we continue to see increases in the homeless rate, which rose 18 percent in 2024. What is causing this? Well, if you’re a regular reader at mises.org you can already guess: government regulation and policy have a lot to do with it.
On this week’s Radio Rothbard, Chris Calton, Research Fellow in Housing and Homelessness at the Independent Institute, and I take a look at homelessness and how many governments are making it worse.
Calton notes that California—followed closely by New York—is the state-level poster child for failed homelessness policies. Most especially, California is bad in two ways: it imposes more regulations on housing production than most other places, and the state discourages treatment for drug addiction. […]
— Read More: mises.org
