Forget the cost of bacon and eggs, housing is the main affordability worry for young people

Forget the cost of bacon and eggs, a recent poll shows 1/2 of young people, in USA, worry about the cost of housing more than all other items combined on the list according to this interesting podcast. Restrictive, single family zoning has been a huge problem.

There is a book called "Stuck: How privilege and property broke the engine of American opportunity." Yes, we've needed more housing. I would add that population growth is also a problem; that not mentioned in this interview. I think resentment toward immigration is partially rooted in lack of available housing.

The interview had a lot of information. First zoning was done in California in 1880s to keep Chinese laundries out of neighborhoods. By the 1940s single family zoning was adopted in, of all places Berkley, to protect against the less desirable renter class. The New Deal built more housing, but pushed more division by race. In the 1970s, Ralph Nader advocated strict permitting rules that allowed neighbor objections to kill almost all development.

Trump has some wacky ideas, such as the 50 year mortgage. He says he wants to make housing more affordable, but recently said he wishes to protect the wealth of existing homeowners. He wants their homes to still go up in price. His answer is low interest rates is to dump tons of money into the economy, I guess.