Avedon Company

Is it better to focus on root causes or symptoms of the housing affordability crisis? It's interesting to see how Pew Research titled their research paper versus the headline the NYT gave it: Pew: The Housing Shortage Is a Major Driver of Poverty NYT: Where High Rents Drive People into Poverty It may be semantics (and in fairness, the NYT does address the housing shortage in the article) but my guess is most Americans associate high rents with landlord behavior, not with supply shortages. I think it matters because whether you focus on root causes or symptoms likely impacts your response. When people think the root issue is high rent, they tend to focus on policies that regulate rent and, in turn, reduce or dis-incentivize supply. When people think the root cause is under-supply, they tend to focus on policy reform that creates more housing.

Name one major U.S. industry where the biggest players have <0.5% market share. The apartment business has gotta be the most fragmented major industry, is it not? Big names, sure, but no behemoth owners. (Analysis from today's release of the NMHC Top 50)