In 2010 https://www.editorialpinups.com/003-four-things.html the supporting article “The Four Things We Don’t Pay Cash Four”. The basic premise is that these four items are purchased with loans or subsidies.  Housing is bought by most using a mortgage.  Medical problems are generally covered by some form of insurance for most. College education is entrenched in loans, grants, and scholarships.  Automobiles, not only purchase but many times now auto repairs.

One of the big issues in the 2026 mid-term elections is affordability. The United States has a unique construct.  There are fifty states which translates to fifty legislative laboratories.    While prices have a natural tendency to fluctuate, some prices go up and never come down. The big question is, what causes certain important prices to rise?

This will be a discussion regarding housing.  House prices are affected by number of factors.  Location, building costs, but one big one is government regulations and taxation.

After World War II there was a great need for new housing with the returning soldiers. It should be remembered that many of these veterans were just out of high school when they went to war.  Upon their return these men were now grown up. Even more men were much older and some had families. These men were being rejoined with the women of the country.  Many of the women yielded the jobs of the factories to the returning vets and started families.

The men of the times seemed to be much more skilled in the building trades than the men are now.  This was handy in this situation. There was also a team order that had developed.  While not directly stated, there was this back of the mind thought to replace those who were lost in the war. A team work evolved, also a sense of sacrifice.  The baby boom starated.

It was not expected to have a house that was completely finished and having individual bedrooms for each kid. Living rooms and recreation rooms were not expected. Not all expected formal dining rooms. One bathroom was the standard.  Garages were for later.

So the lots and houses were designed for a starting point and designed for future expansion. Why does this not happen today?

First, there is greed.  Greed by the politicians that zone neighborhoods.   Let’s look at a parallel. In the past there were numerous roller rinks and every town seemed to have a bowling alley.  Both require big buildings that generate a limited amount of revenue per square foot. Politicians controlling zoning and neighborhood design find that neighborhoods of single family starter homes generate less tax revenue than neighborhoods of large single family homes or massive condo and apartment complexes.

By building homes that do not start with a garage delays valuation for the purpose of property taxes until the garage is built if it ever is. A five room house with an unfinished basement is valued less than a five room house that has a family room and bathroom in the basement.  Many basements never get finished so the taxing bodies cannot have that valuation increase from day one of the house.  The examples can be numerous.

Apartment prices went nuts since the creation of Section 8 housing.  Landlords determined that the government would make up the difference in what people could afford and what they wanted to charge. So apartments that went from fifty dollars a month went to two hundred dollars a month and the rents have been up on the way up!

Yes, builders have an interest putting expensive luxury residential buildings up.  They can charge more per square foot than more affordable options. Watch shows on HGTV and you can see how unaffordable housing can be created.

So the current solutions to the housing affordability problem is to create subsidy situations to offset the unaffordable inventory situation. But subsidies are fraught with abuse possibilities from multiple angles and seem to rarely solve affordability problems.  Honesty in process and pricing is a must.  This also includes the government allowing special access to institutional investors.  Special access is determining winners and losers. Government should not be making these choices.

If affordable housing is indeed a goal, then we need to revisit that which has worked historically.  There may be a need to give training to the current young populace in the trades as those skills have been ignored in many high schools, but that can be done.

Where there is a desire to do the right thing, the right thing can be done.