What is the cause of housing shortages?

[initforme]

It isn't a bad thing when employers have to compete hugely to find labor.

 

[Lesh]

It isn't a bad thing when employers have to compete hugely to find labor.

It raises wages but also inhibits productivity and increases inflation

 

[bendog]

Listening to the Presidential debate will never inform you about anything, let alone the housing shortage.

All you will hear is Kamala saying she will build more and give money away, but never addressing the causes of the housing crisis other than blaming Trump.

LOL. What useless morons we have in government.

In fact, giving money to first time home buyers will probably just cause prices to go up.

Here are a few articles that shed light into the problem

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/how-to-fix-global-housing-crisis/

A shortage of land, lending, labour and materials since the financial crisis in 2008 are the main causes of the US housing shortage, the Moody’s study finds.
This has driven up costs and cut the profit margins builders can make. They have less incentive to build more homes, “particularly lower-priced housing with lower margins,” Moody’s Analytics says.
COVID-19 is considered to have made the housing crisis worse, as buyers and renters looked for more space during lockdowns. Historically low-interest rates in many countries, which make it cheap to borrow money, have fueled this phenomenon.

And this article

The U.S. is now short 4.5 million homes as the housing deficit grows - Jun 18, 2024

zillow.mediaroom.com

Reforming zoning rules to allow for more density is key for more homes to be built. Experts overwhelmingly agree that relaxing zoning laws is one of the best ways to improve affordability, and these types of measures have broad support among homeowners and renters. Even adding a modest amount of density in the country's biggest markets could create millions of new homes.

If you want an answer to that question, probably a debate is not the place to look for one. LOL

It is a question I wonder about.
The building of every house was reduced to 26 steps, with sub-contractors responsible for each step. His mass production of thousands of houses at virtually the same time allowed Levitt to sell them, with kitchens fully stocked with modern appliances, and a television in the living room, for as little as $8,000 each (equal to $109,162 today), which, with the G.I. Bill and federal housing subsidies, reduced the up-front cost of a house to many buyers to around $400 (equal to $5,458 today).[10]

Levittown, New York - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And then there is the row house concept where front lawns are eschewed. But when the housing market returns to a buyers' market, those might be a disadvantage.

 

[initforme]

It raises wages but also inhibits productivity and increases inflation

Employers aren't owed a workforce, not even access to one.