[tzs]

I'm not sure it is that simple. The housing units per capita numbers on first impression would suggest the number of housing units is keeping up with population growth, raising the question of why that isn't sufficient.

Some quick Googling for number of housing units in the US in 2006 and 2026 says 128 million then and 149 million.

Population then was 299 million and is 334 million now.

That's 16.4% more housing units and 15.4% more population. In terms of housing units per capita that's 0.45 now, and 0.43 in 2006.

Looking farther back it as 0.34 in the 1970 census, 0.39 in the 1980 census, and 0.41 in the 2000 census.

There was a dip from 2008 to 2016 from 0.428 to 0.419 then it resumed going up [1].

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=Mc22

[littlexsparkee]

It's not just about sheer numbers but distribution - the areas where they're most needed are the ones that are building the fewest units, exceptions (Seattle, Austin) aside