How to Make Housing More Affordable

Published August 3, 2022

What makes housing expensive? The problem isn’t lack of space—it is that not enough homes are being built. Housing can be made more affordable by reducing regulations and restrictions on building houses and allowing non-homeowners more of a say in how their community will look. 

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do governments regulate housing? What prevents new housing from being developed?
2. Are there different forms of housing restriction?

Additional Resources:

• Read “How to Make Housing More Affordable,” by David Henderson. Available here.
• Read “Roofs or Ceilings?” by Milton Friedman and George Stigler. Available here.
• Watch “The Economics of House Hunting Envy” on PolicyEd. Available here.