[sampo]

You'd think smaller towns could just let people build some more houses. Adding more people to e.g. Manhattan is tricky because land is scarce. But a small town should have some adjacent land available, that could be allocated for building more homes.

[gray_-_wolf]

Houses are not really the issue, but supporting infrastructure is. Things like plumbing, schools, places to shop at, ....

[sampo]

So? Just keep building the infrastructure at the same pace as you let people build themselves new homes.

USA Population growth rate is now at about the lowest it has ever been. All the previous generations had to also build houses and the supporting infrastructure. It's not rocket science.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_the_Uni...