We are watching the American dream of homeownership get ground down by a toxic mix of bad policy and market failure, and a new report makes the damage plain for everyone to see. Millions of hardworking families who once counted on buying a house are now being told they simply can’t afford it — a reality that will hollow out communities and punish the next generation.
Look at what’s happening in places like Utah, where prices have exploded — a 44 percent jump in just two years that has pushed the average home price above half a million dollars and put dream homes out of reach for ordinary families. This isn’t abstract data; it’s parents who can’t find a yard for their kids to play in and teachers and first responders who can’t live where they serve.
The root of this crisis is basic supply and demand: we don’t have enough houses, and the shortage is massive. Analysts and nonprofits put the undersupply in the millions, with some estimates pointing to a gap large enough to explain runaway price growth and crushing rents — a shortfall that won’t be fixed by virtue-signaling or more government spending alone.
Affordability measures tell a sobering story: only a tiny share of American households can afford a median-priced home today, and median-income families would need to spend far more of their paychecks than the accepted 30 percent safety line to carry the cost of ownership. That reality — households being priced out not by virtue of laziness but by math and policy — is backed by data from national reporting and federal affordability monitors.
Why did this happen? Higher interest rates play a role, but so do the predictable consequences of heavy-handed regulation, restrictive zoning, and a construction workforce starved of labor and hamstrung by red tape. When government makes it harder to build, when activists block sensible development, and when market incentives are skewed toward Wall Street investors buying up single-family houses, ordinary Americans lose.
Washington pretends these are technical problems, but the real failure is ideological: politicians have prioritized fancy programs and headlines over common-sense reforms that would actually increase supply and lower costs. Conservative leaders should be unapologetic in pushing for zoning reform, streamlined permitting, tax incentives for homebuilders, and policies that empower families to keep and build wealth, not policies that funnel housing to institutional investors.
This crisis demands local and state action as much as it does critique of federal missteps. Governors and mayors who cut the red tape, unleash responsible development, and protect property rights will restore opportunity, while those who double down on NIMBYism and centralized controls will watch their communities hollow out. The choice is clear: restore an ownership-friendly America or accept a future where fewer people have a stake in their neighborhoods and less chance to pass on prosperity to their children.
