Housing affordability has stopped being solely a social policy question. In high-cost cities it now shows up directly in vacancy rates for teachers, nurses and transport staff.
Employers respond with allowances, which raise wage bills without adding a single home. The subsidy is capitalised into rents within a year or two.
Supply constraints are mostly local and mostly procedural: permitting timelines, appeals and infrastructure sequencing rather than an absence of land or capital.
The cities that have made progress share an unglamorous trait. They shortened the time between an approved plan and a completed building.
