According to some America is short around 4 or 5 million homes, and nearly two in five renters believe they will never own a home.
“The rule of thumb was you spend a third of your income on housing. Many people today are spending over half of their income on housing, which leaves little left for medical costs, for transportation, food, and the other essentials of life,” says James Burling, author of the new book “Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis.”
America’s current predicament is the result of decades of poorly-conceived policies that discourage homebuilding and drive up prices, Mr. Burling argues, from rent control to excessive environmental regulations to single-family zoning laws that prevent the building of more affordable duplexes and triplexes. But funneling more money to homebuyers won’t solve the supply shortage, Burling told our colleague, Jan Jekielek, in an interview on American Thought Leaders.
