housing shortage

From Crash Davis You’ll hear it all the time, especially from pundits and politicians: “The solution to the housing crisis is simple. Just build more.” It sounds nice. It fits on a bumper sticker. But it’s not the full story. Not even close. We’re not just short on homes. We’ve built an entire system where housing has become the best way to build wealth, and where insiders control access to that wealth. I was talking to a friend the other day, and he mentioned a few people he knew who were doing very well financially. Every single one of them had made their money in real estate. That says a lot. Here in Colorado, you see the distortion everywhere. In Lakewood, homes are sitting on the market. The “supply” is technically there, but prices still start around $500,000 and go well past $1.4 million. That’s not a starter home. That’s not attainable for most working families. And it’s not just because we didn’t build enough. It’s because we’ve flooded the system with easy money for decades. It didn’t start with the pandemic. That just poured fuel on a fire that had already been burning since the financial crisis, the dot-com bust, and even before. Every time the economy hiccups, we inject liquidity, drop interest rates, and do whatever it takes to prop up asset values. The result is a distorted market where real estate becomes a magnet for cash, speculation, and institutional investment. Now we’re sitting on the flip side. High mortgage rates were needed to fight the very inflation we created, and a generation has been locked out of homeownership. And let’s talk about access. Realtors and brokers often have first shot at listings. Many flip properties before they ever reach the public. Investors buy homes in bulk with cash offers and zero contingencies. It’s not a level playing field. It’s insider baseball, and everyday buyers are the ones striking out. Some might say, “Well, you could become a Realtor too.” Maybe. But that’s not the point. I’m not asking to join the club. I’m asking whether the club should be allowed to set the rules for the entire market. Housing isn’t just another asset class. It’s where people live. And when those licensed to facilitate transactions also get first crack at the inventory, sometimes before the public even knows it exists, we’ve blurred the line between broker and player. In most financial markets, we call that insider trading. It’s illegal. But in real estate, it’s not only legal, it’s standard practice. Realtors can access private “pocket listings,” buy before a home is ever made public, and flip it, all within the rules. There’s no regulation that stops it. No disclosure requirement. No cap. It’s an advantage built into the structure, not earned through risk or innovation. This isn’t about more government control. It’s about a market that actually behaves like one. And here’s where it ties into something even bigger. We protect systems like this because we’re afraid to let them fail. When cracks appear, whether it’s the housing market, the student loan industry, or some part of the financial sector, we inject money, cut rates, float bailouts, or push subsidies to keep it all from collapsing. The result is inflated assets, moral hazard, and even more consolidation of advantage. We say we want affordability. But we prop up prices. We say we support markets. But we rig them to protect insiders. We’re not just creating housing problems. We’re institutionalizing them. Data shows this isn’t fringe theory. In markets like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami, researchers have shown that speculative investor behavior directly drove price spikes and increased default risk during boom cycles. And it’s not just Wall Street firms. Small-scale investors now account for nearly 30 percent of all single-family home purchases nationwide. In California, nearly one in five homes is investor-owned. In some mountain and resort regions, it’s far higher. That’s not building community. That’s extracting profit and boxing out would-be homeowners. You can see it in housing. You can see it in student loans. We’ve created a culture where financial risk is absorbed by the system instead of the individual. Yes, many student loans were predatory, with poor disclosure and complex repayment terms that borrowers barely understood. And here’s the part no one talks about. More student loan debt is held by people over 50 than under 25. That’s not just a youth issue. It’s a long-term debt trap. And when people are carrying that kind of burden, along with auto loans and other monthly obligations, homeownership gets pushed further out of reach. Some expenses are personal choices, sure. But the bottom line is this. Housing affordability depends on more than home prices. It depends on what’s left after the system takes its cut. We’ve also created a generational split. Asset-holders benefit while asset-seekers fall behind. The longer we ignore that, the more brittle the system becomes. Meanwhile, the “just build more” crowd ignores a basic reality. Places like Colorado aren’t limitless. Buildable land is inherently scarce. Water is limited. Infrastructure can only stretch so far. And people want to live here, which means demand is high and growing. When you combine that kind of demand with natural constraints on supply, prices are going to rise. That’s not politics. That’s economics. And when people point out that only high-income households can afford to live in Boulder, the response is usually to push “affordable housing” into surrounding communities like Lakewood. That’s where things like ADUs, lot splits, and small infill units come in. The idea is to add supply by allowing people to subdivide their lots, build small houses, and either rent them out or sell them. On paper, it sounds practical. In reality, it often erodes the very character of the neighborhoods that make these places livable to begin with. Density without planning isn’t affordability. It’s just chaos with good intentions. And here’s another truth we rarely say out loud. Not everyone can or