No One Can Afford a House Anymore: Why It Feels Impossible, and What You Can Do
What you need to know about housing
There is a real affordability crisis caused by decades of underbuilding, restrictive zoning, slow permitting, and rising costs
Housing stability affects mental and physical health
YIMBY stands for “Yes, In My Backyard,” a pro‑housing movement that supports inclusive zoning and more diverse, near‑transit homes
Strong neighborhoods are built on social infrastructure; social infrastructure examples include parks, libraries, cafés, community centers, and playgrounds
Why “No One Can Afford a House Anymore” Feels True
Housing is the most affordable it’s ever been, said literally no one ever. Between private equity bidding wars, sky‑high rents, and sparse listings, it’s easy to feel like no one can afford a house anymore.
In this blog, I’m talking about why housing has become so expensive, what emotions it brings up, and what you can actually do about it. Deep exhale, friend, I promise you I won’t tell you that the reason you can’t afford a house is because of your coffee habit. Let’s get into understanding why good, affordable housing is so hard to find.
What Made Housing So Expensive?
In short? Supply and demand: Housing is so expensive because we haven’t been building enough places to live. But it goes beyond that. Not enough housing units have been built because of things like restrictive zoning, prioritizing parking spaces over people, and your neighbor who doesn’t want a triplex or apartment building near them.
Restrictive zoning often bans anything that isn’t a detached single-family home. That means no duplexes, triplexes, small apartments, or accessory dwelling units (ADUs). These “missing middle” housing types have historically kept neighborhoods livable and affordable.
Slow permitting & endless approvals drag on for months or even years. Those delays cost developers money, which gets passed on to buyers and renters.
Mandatory parking minimums force builders to prioritize cars over people, taking up land and budget that could have gone toward more homes.
NIMBY-ism Short for Not In My Backyard, this is when residents oppose new housing near them, even if it would help the broader community. Sometimes it’s framed as “protecting neighborhood character,” but it reinforces exclusion, stalls projects for years, or blocks them entirely.
Rising construction costs are fueled by pricier materials (hello, tariffs!), limited skilled labor (hello, decades of pushing college degrees over skilled trades and ICE raids!), and supply chain hiccups.
When you stack all of this together, you get fewer homes, built slower, at higher prices. And because this supply-and-demand mismatch affects both ownership and rentals, even brand-new apartment and condo builds can’t absorb the pressure fast enough to offer real relief.
So if you’ve found yourself saying things like, “Well, I want more housing in my area, but not that type of housing,” or “the new builds around here are too expensive, they won’t make a dent in the housing crisis,” there’s so much more to it than one (or ten) new apartment buildings.
Housing Is a Social Determinant of Health
If we dust off Psychology 101, housing sits at the base of Maslow’s pyramid for a reason: you can’t focus on long-term goals when the ground under your feet doesn’t feel secure.
In public health terms, housing is a social determinant of health, meaning that where you live and how stable your housing is, influence your physical and mental well-being.
If you’ve:
Felt anxious about a rent hike
Been ashamed about “renting too long”
Burned out from open-house marathons
Then you understand that housing is more than a budget line item, it impacts your physical and mental health.
And here in the U.S., we’ve been sold the myth that buying a home is the only “real” path to adulthood and wealth. For many, it’s not accessible. For others, it’s not even appealing. Renting can be a values-aligned choice, one that preserves flexibility and lightens the emotional, financial, and physical labor of homeownership.
None of this comes down to your willpower or latte habits. It’s about the systems we live in.
Four Ways To Help With The Affordability Crisis
Not all hope is lost, though. There are many ways to help address the housing affordability crisis, without needing to be a politician or a general contractor. Learn about four ways to help with the housing shortage through things like pro-housing movements, reflect on what makes a neighborhood strong, support policies that increase housing, and find community and stay informed.
1. What YIMBY Stands For: Understanding Pro-Housing Movements
You don’t need an urban planning degree to be part of the solution. I’m a member of my local pro-housing group, Neighbors for More Neighbors Ann Arbor, because I’ve seen policy change improve actual lives.
YIMBY means Yes, In My Backyard. It’s a counter-movement to NIMBY-ism, aiming to legalize and build more homes of all kinds, particularly near jobs, schools, and transit. It’s not about high-rise luxury penthouses or sprawling McMansions for a select few; it’s about:
Legalizing duplexes, triplexes, small apartment buildings, and ADUs in amenity-rich neighborhoods
Pushing for inclusive zoning, streamlined approvals, and right-sized parking
Adding affordability measures tailored to local needs
At its core, YIMBY is about welcoming people to the community. Healthy cities are stabilized and grow by making room for people at different life stages, incomes, and abilities, not by freezing a neighborhood in time and hoping the next generation can somehow afford to stay.
3. Social Infrastructure: What Keeps People Together
Housing policy often stops at “roofs over heads,” but there’s a deeper layer: connection.
A friend recommended sociologist Eric Klinenberg’s book, Palaces for the People. I did my undergrad in sociology, so when she recommended this book, it was the perfect nerdy and actionable Venn diagram of my interests. Palaces for the People spends a lot of time on the idea of social infrastructure, the public and semi-public spaces where community relationships form and deepen, strengthening the places where we live.
Examples of places that build social infrastructure include:
Parks where kids play tag and caregiver “stop-and-chats” become real friendships
Libraries that serve as parenting respite, cooling centers, and skill-building places connect neighbors
Community centers that host both flu shot clinics and salsa nights
Cafés where the barista knows your dog’s name and your go-to order
When we combine more homes with better places to bump into each other, we transform a neighborhood from “just a structure” into a resilient, caring community. These spaces matter because they make it easier to swap resources, ask for help, and feel like you belong. In moments of crisis, such as a heatwave (such as the 1995 Chicago heatwave Klinenberg’s book opens with), a blackout, or a job loss, these connections can become lifelines.
3. Support Policies That Increase Housing Supply
If you want to make a dent in the affordability crisis, here’s what to look for in policies and candidates to help increase the housing supply:
Legalize “missing middle” housing like duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and ADUs.
Streamline building approvals so projects don’t languish for years in red tape.
Reduce mandatory parking minimums so we prioritize people, not empty asphalt or parking structures.
Invest in affordable housing developments where they’re needed most. Investing can be literal; many community land trusts or local housing developments have ways to invest that are NOT just donating. Most land trusts or developers partner with a local bank or credit union, so you can open a Certificate of Deposit at a specific bank/credit union, and the collateral can be used for the project. For people with more means, they can back mortgages or invest in the project or community funds. Investing can also involve volunteering in other ways, such as giving time, resources, or labor to a particular project.
Protect renters from unjust evictions and sudden, steep rent hikes.
The specifics will vary from city to city, but the guiding question is the same: How can this place become more affordable to live in while staying connected to jobs, schools, and community?
Policies that open the door to more housing stock give us a chance to break the cycle of scarcity that’s driving up costs for everyone.
4. Find Community and Stay Informed
Housing stress can be deeply isolating. It’s easy to feel like you’re the only one scrambling to find something safe, stable, and affordable or advocating so others may do the same. Staying connected to others who care about housing can make the difference between burnout and hope.
This might look like:
Joining a local tenant union to share resources and strategies.
Getting involved with a housing advocacy group to push for change.
Attending town halls or city council meetings to hear what’s on the table and add your voice. I did this in June 2025 and shared my experience: I was able to buy a house through a combination of privilege and timing, and that star alignment shouldn’t be reserved for the lucky few. I’d welcome even more places to shop and dine in my neighborhood, knowing that advocating for mixed-use spaces means more new neighbors, too.
Having regular, real-talk conversations with family and neighbors so the topic stays visible. There is a lot of misinformation and confusion out there around housing. A YIMBY yard sign and t-shirt of mine have sparked organic, kind, and curious conversations with neighbors.
Pro-Housing Helps Us All
Housing is financial, yes, but it’s also deeply emotional and profoundly communal. When safe, stable homes are scarce, stress rises, health suffers, and people are pushed further from the places that help them thrive. Remember: housing stability is health, and it impacts all of us.
Pro‑housing policies create more homes, strengthen social infrastructure, and keep dollars circulating locally.
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