How Severe Is the Housing Shortage? It Depends on How You Define ‘Shortage’

Today, only one in three new homes in America is “self-built” by individuals. In the United Kingdom, the figure is an abysmal one in ten. A regulatory thicket makes it prohibitively difficult and costly for individuals to build.

This means that the continuation of the current housing boom may be heavily dependent on interest rates staying low.

The reality of homelessness, inadequate housing, and the lack of affordable housing is a national disgrace. This reality undermines the life and dignity of so many of our brothers and sisters who lack a decent place to live. It destroys lives and families. The crime of homelessness is not that people live in filthy camps under bridges, or that fami

A key environmental problem is that current systems of housing and transport are unsustainable. In American suburbia, houses are large and costly to build. They are energy inefficient and cannot be kept cool without air conditioning. They have large lawns, often with ecologically destructive landscaping. Because of the distances and the land-use pa

nationally, housing is lost at a rate of about 0.58 percent per year compounded.