If housing is a basic human need, why is it priced like a speculative luxury?
This question sits at the center of today’s economic anxiety. For many households, housing is no longer one expense among many. It is the expense that dictates every other decision. Where you can work. Whether you can save. Whether having children is even realistic. Whether one unexpected bill turns into long term damage.
Yet, we are constantly told that this is normal. That this is just how markets work.
It’s not.
Housing costs did not rise naturally
For decades, housing prices and rents have grown faster than wages. This did not happen because people suddenly wanted nicer homes. It happened because the supply of housing stopped growing at the pace of demand.
Beginning in the 1970s, housing construction slowed. Zoning laws tightened. Multi unit housing was restricted. Height limits, parking minimums, and neighborhood resistance became standard. Population growth continued. Jobs concentrated in cities. Housing did not follow.
Scarcity was a choice.
When demand rises and supply is intentionally limited, prices do exactly what they are doing now.
Housing stopped being shelter and became an asset
At the same time supply tightened, housing took on a new role. Homes became investment vehicles.
Rising prices were no longer a problem to solve. They were a feature to protect.
Homeowners benefited from appreciation. Local governments benefited from higher tax bases. Investors entered the market. Institutional buyers purchased single family homes. Short term rentals removed long term housing from circulation.
Affordability stopped being the goal. Appreciation became the goal.
Once housing is treated as a financial product, stability becomes secondary.
The ownership trap
The system rewards ownership. Equity. Stability. Predictability. These are the paths to long term security.
Ownership has become harder precisely as it became more important.
Down payments rose with prices. Credit tightened. Rent inflation made saving harder. Student debt and healthcare costs ate into disposable income.
People are told to build wealth through homeownership while being locked out of the entry point.
It is a structural contradiction, isn’t it? Unfortunately, people view it as a personal failure.
Why comparisons to the past fail
Older generations often point to their own experiences. One income. Starter homes. Early ownership.
Those conditions no longer exist.
Homes were cheaper relative to income. Starter homes were abundant. College and healthcare costs were minimal. Mortgages were manageable because the principal was low.
The past had a completely different economic environment.
Using it as a benchmark only obscures the real problem.
Housing instability multiplies every other cost
Housing is expensive but also it amplifies everything else.
High rents limit job mobility. Long commutes increase transportation costs and time stress. Housing insecurity increases reliance on credit. Financial precarity worsens health outcomes.
A household earning a decent income can still be one rent increase away from crisis.
This is why so many people feel like they are failing even when they are doing everything right.
Why the market does not fix this
The housing market does not self correct because powerful incentives prevent it from doing so.
Local control rewards scarcity. Existing homeowners benefit from rising values. Political narratives frame density as decline. Policy protects asset growth over affordability.
The system works extremely well for those who already own a house.
What this means for the larger picture
Housing explains why updated poverty lines matter. Why middle income families feel trapped. Why wage gains do not feel like progress. Why resentment grows.
You cannot talk about financial stability without talking about shelter.
You cannot solve a problem if you refuse to measure it honestly.
Housing instability is not caused by laziness, bad budgeting, or unrealistic expectations.
It is the predictable result of decades of policy decisions that restricted supply, rewarded speculation, and detached shelter from wages.
Until that reality is acknowledged, no amount of individual effort will fix what is fundamentally structural.
Telling people to try harder will only deepen the divide between lived experience and official narratives.
