The Answer To The Housing Crisis Is More Housing

After a long stretch of increases, in May 2023 rent prices dropped for the first time since Covid, according to the June 2023 Rent report by Rent.com. However, the U.S. housing market is still short 6.5 million homes, as reported by CNN. Data from Freddie Mac shows that not enough homes are being built to keep up with the number of new households that are forming.

If rents have been rising until recently, and there is a dramatic housing shortfall, the question is: why are developers not building more housing? The answer is multi-faceted and must address both affordability and development factors.