[Schiendelman]

Government can't solve affordable housing. It is the problem causing unaffordable housing.

Housing affordability is 100% because we let people tell their neighbors they cannot build as much housing as they want to, where they need to build it more slowly. There's no middle ground, there are no acceptable structures of land use law if you want affordability. If you get to tell your neighbor how much housing they can produce, bureaucracy will form around that and it will drive up the price of housing.

[Cumpiler69]

>Government can't solve affordable housing. It is the problem causing unaffordable housing.

They CAN solve housing because, like you said, they're the ones causing it. They just don't want to because the housing bubble is making a lot of people rich.

[Schiendelman]

I think if you drill down you'll find there's no "they" who can. The majority of voters are homeowners who benefit from restricting housing supply. Any state actor who loosens land use regulation enough that it actually lowers housing prices would likely be voted out.

The changes you see - like allowing ADUs - are inherently very limited impact so that they look good to those advocating for more housing without actually lowering prices.