Stoneleigh Fellow Vincent Reina co-authors an op-ed on how best to address the nation’s housing affordability crisis, including through increasing construction, strengthening the housing safety net, improving credit and tax policy, and ensuring better financing options.
Construction is slowing despite high demand for housing, while housing costs are squeezing families, making the dream of owning a home feel further away than ever. As Rahm Emanuel once said: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” When it comes to housing, we did.
After the 2008 foreclosure crisis, the country rightly focused on stabilizing the financial system. But in doing so, we set the stage for another kind of housing crisis — one of chronic underbuilding and skyrocketing unaffordability. Overly restrictive zoning, cautious lending and anti-development politics created a long freeze in housing production, and now we’re paying the price.
