Maybe we just need to increase the supply of houses to drive that cost down. Raising the minimum wage doesn’t help if everyone is competing for the same limited supply.
“Why doesn’t the CPI include the cost of buying and financing houses as well as property taxes and home maintenance and improvement?
Houses and other residential structures are not consumption items and, therefore, should not be CPI items. All buildings and structures are capital goods, which are items that provide a service. In the case of houses and other residential structures, that service is shelter.
Buildings and structures are also investment items, things that are bought and resold in organized markets with a potential for gain. House prices frequently appreciate; in this respect they differ from consumer durables such as vehicles.”
This isn't so much a "fact" as it is a "position." In other words, the fact that the BLS uses this position in its definition does not make that definition the best possible definition, nor does it mean people have to accept that definition when they use the word "inflation" in a conversation.
There are loads of reasons why one might argue that house prices should be considered necessary expenses rather than investments. A particular area may have only houses for sale and very few rentals. Ownership provides things that cannot be achieved by renting. The appreciated value of a house is largely meaningless or even detrimental for people who just want to keep living where they live when their wages are not increasing. Etc.
Also, generally, quoting definitions unprompted isn't well received in most conversations :).
Whether it is rented or purchased is irrelevant. Increasing the supply will drive the cost down. If you have more renters than rentals prices will go up and a minimum wage is just a handout to wealthy landlords because you have the same people competing for the same housing just with more money.
Edit:
Downvoted for stating facts. From above:
https://www.bls.gov/cpi/factsheets/owners-equivalent-rent-an...
“Why doesn’t the CPI include the cost of buying and financing houses as well as property taxes and home maintenance and improvement?
Houses and other residential structures are not consumption items and, therefore, should not be CPI items. All buildings and structures are capital goods, which are items that provide a service. In the case of houses and other residential structures, that service is shelter.
Buildings and structures are also investment items, things that are bought and resold in organized markets with a potential for gain. House prices frequently appreciate; in this respect they differ from consumer durables such as vehicles.”