There are many reasons, one of which is certainly supply in some places, but most strongly it's just simply unrealistic that everyone will be able to make enough money to afford the mortgage on any house, let alone renting one, because of disability or age, because the housing isn't where the jobs are, because it's cheaper to import a skilled worker than it is to train one here. we do so many things that are collectively irrational that expecting one variable to unchain the free hand of the market in our lifetime seems simply... naive. And this isn't even touching broader issues about the commodification of housing and the role that real estate plays as a form of both wealth and accessible wealth extraction that make the idea of "affordable housing" downright repugnant to those who have some.

Ezra Klein is an intelligent man, but he has put his intelligence towards selling hopeful visions to professionals who want hope rather than an earnest diagnosis of the dysfunction afflicting our culture, geography, labor market, and welfare system.