Why Can't Everybody Have a Home?

Rising prices have made decent housing out of reach for millions of Americans. We can fix that.

“I was lost by the river. And I couldn’t find a home.”

Little Buster wrote those words in 1961. They open his rhythm-and-blues classic, “Lookin’ for a Home,” a soulful ballad of youth and yearning. Some people prefer the guitar-infused 1969 version by Al Kooper and Shuggie Otis.

Nobody prefers today’s version, the one where millions of Americans are looking for a home that doesn’t exist.

According to the National Association of Realtors, there are 6 million more home-hunters than housing units for sale or rent. That shortfall has sent the cost of a residence beyond the reach of many Americans.

Home. It’s where the heart is (novelist J.T. Bickford, 1857). It’s where, when you go there, they have to take you in (poet Robert Frost, 1914). Home is such a complex, emotive concept that much of literature, music, social life and public policy is organized around it. So, when a country can’t house its own people, something is truly wrong.

In the U.S., lots of things. Zoning laws limit construction of multi-family and townhouses, especially in suburbs and small towns. Building codes don’t always keep up with innovation in construction methods and materials. Existing homeowners don’t want much of anything built near them – “Not in my back yard,” as the saying goes, or NIMBY.

It gets worse. Interest rates on a standard 30-year fixed-rate mortgage have more than doubled in the past two years, to about 6%. Developers are facing higher borrowing costs as well. Meanwhile, supply problems have sent construction costs for new homes soaring. Which, in our market-driven world, means that existing homes become pricier, too.

The average single-family dwelling in the U.S. has nearly doubled in the past decade, to more than $300,000, according to the S&P Case/Schiller index. Median household income, meanwhile, has risen at barely half that rate. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that half of American families can no longer afford to rent even a one-bedroom apartment.

In many desirable locations, a growing number of residences are now being sold or rented out to vacationers and other short-term customers – the so-called Airbnb effect. It’s perfectly legal in most places, and part-time residents are generally beneficial for a community. They pay taxes, patronize local businesses and don’t use many local services.

But they occupy space once filled by locals. Demand from second-home buyers inevitably drives up prices for new families, growing families and others in search of a full-time nest.

Such fears have prompted localities in many parts of the U.S. to consider special taxes on part-time residents or limits on vacation rentals. Across America, a troubling wave of us-vs.-them resentment seems to be rising.

In his new book, “A World of Insecurity,” economist Pranab Bardhan links such sentiment to the current tide of populist anger and anti-immigrant activism. To Bardhan, these are symptoms of a growing sense of loss among many Americans, especially those in less-populated areas. They see their communities changing, unfamiliar people moving in, people like themselves losing out. They want all that to stop.

It won’t, of course. Not without ending freedom of movement and markets, or effectively turning our communities into stagnant fortresses. It might be more prudent to increase the supply of housing.

A complex task, though hardly impossible. Zoning and other land use laws could be re-written to soften the density, lot size, setback, parking, permitting and other stipulations that discourage apartments and townhouses.

Local governments could expand tax incentives to developers of affordable housing. States could raise income limits for mortgage and rent assistance. Congress could make the 2021 Emergency Rental Assistance Act permanent. Builders and building-code drafters could embrace new construction methods, like 3-D printing and greater use of recycled components.

Also – and I expect some pushback on this – our public-spirited NIMBY friends could focus their attention on environmental and health menaces rather than residential configurations they don’t like.

Getting people to accept change isn’t easy. So perhaps we should start with increasing the supply and affordability of housing. That’s basically a technical challenge. Americans are good at those. We put a man on the moon.

It took Little Buster, aka Edward Forehand, three years to find a label that would record “Lookin’ for a Home,” which made him an R&B star. Blind from childhood, he mastered six instruments and went on to a successful career as a performer and songwriter. He died in 2006 near the Long Island town where he grew up.

Little Buster did find a home, in every sense. With a little persistence, smarter housing policies and a touch of common sense, so can we.