America
Housing Crisis Fueled by Red Tape at Local Level
Home prices have soared 50% since pandemic, as liberal zoning boards stymie new construction.
P BY CHARLIE MCCARTHY
resident donald trump’s desire to revitalize the U.S. housing market is facing challenges beyond the con-
trol of the executive branch. As Americans brace for another
year of soaring housing costs, the nation’s real estate crisis contin- ues to deepen, reflecting decades of underbuilding, regulatory gridlock, and economic mismanagement that long predate the Trump administra- tion and continue to hamstring it. Home prices have climbed more
than 50% since the pandemic, push- ing ownership further out of reach for millions, according to The New York Times. Roughly one-third of American
households now spend more than 30% of their income on shelter, a level the federal government classifies as “cost-burdened.” And the typical first-
AMERICA IS STILL BUILDING FEWER HOMES THAN IT WAS
BEFORE 2008 Total housing units built per 100,000 people per year.
1000 800 600 400 200 0
Historical Average Pre-2008
time buyer has aged drastically. In 2014, the median buyer was 31;
in 2025, it reached 40 — the oldest on record. This is not simply a post-COVID
spike. It is the result of a decades- long housing shortfall, with experts estimating a national deficit of 2 to 5 million homes. U.S. Census Bureau statistics
show that fewer homes per 100,000 residents were built in 2025 than in 2005, 1995, 1985, or 1975 — a stun- ning collapse in productivity for one of the core pillars of the American economy. The Census Bureau’s construc-
tion statistics confirm the slowdown. In 2023–2024: Annual housing starts hovered
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau
around 1.4 million, far below the 2005 peak of 2.07 million. The nation added fewer new sin- gle-family homes than in any period since the early 1990s. The homeowner vacancy rate
fell to 0.8%, the lowest since the Census began tracking modern data — a clear indicator of severe under- supply. This mismatch of “too much
money chasing too few homes,” as the Times noted, has fueled the price escalation plaguing young families and working-class Americans. While Trump has vowed to restore affordability by unleashing construc- tion and cutting bureaucratic red tape, even the mainstream media Times acknowledged that housing policy does not originate in Wash- ington, D.C. Local zoning boards, often con-
CUTTING EDGE Workers use prefabricated modular construction methods to build apartments for low to moderate income households in Detroit, Michigan.
16 NEWSMAX | JANUARY 2026
trolled by entrenched liberal interests in major blue cities, restrict density, block new construction, and inflate costs through layers of regulations. Even during the Biden years,
BUILDING/JIM WEST/UCG/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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