> This is pretty much the crux of it. High housing prices could be "fixed" almost overnight, but for almost every citizen of the first world, their house is the single biggest investment they will ever make in their life. You'd be destroying everyone's retirement plans and there'd be major economic repercussions.
I wonder if one way out would be to 1) build government rental-housing projects again, to fill the immediate housing need, and 2) implement other policies to increase home-building (but only enough to keep price increases below inflation).
One serious problem would be the association of housing projects with crime and poverty, but maybe that could be addressed by putting police stations on the first floor (or something) and eminent-domaining them into upscale areas over luxury housing.
I wonder if one way out would be to 1) build government rental-housing projects again, to fill the immediate housing need, and 2) implement other policies to increase home-building (but only enough to keep price increases below inflation).
One serious problem would be the association of housing projects with crime and poverty, but maybe that could be addressed by putting police stations on the first floor (or something) and eminent-domaining them into upscale areas over luxury housing.