> Where exactly is the difference between those goods and housing? The first difference is elasticity of demand. Housing is relatively inelastic in the short t

> Where exactly is the difference between those goods and housing? The first difference is elasticity of demand. Housing is relatively inelastic in the short term due to land availability, time to build, and government regulation. This simply means that as price increases, quantity demanded does not decrease as much as it would for another good. For example, cereal is pretty elastic with good substitutes. If the price of cereal goes up, a good portion of consumers will switch products. In the long term housing is more elastic as people build more. So, demand isn't changing a lot with price. And the second difference is that housing is a basic need. Let's make the assumption that housing is a truly competitive market without government regulation. The market will settle at different prices for different qualities of housing. It will be incredibly efficient and maximize consumer and producer surplus (economic goodness). But, people will be left out of the market. A perfectly competitive market DOES NOT guarantee that everyone will be able to purchase the product. It will just maximize consumer and producer surplus. Okay, so we as a society think that we should provide some government assistance for those that cannot afford housing in this market. We have some options. We could implement a rent ceiling. Unfortunately, and this is well proven, price ceilings create shortages and inequities. Most economist do not agree with price ceilings. https://www.factcheck.org/2009/02/when-economists-agree/ https://www.factcheck.org/2009/02/when-economists-agree/ We could provide programs as detailed in this article which effects the supply. As this article highlights, all government intervention WILL create market inefficiencies. The pie will get smaller. I'm not saying that the government should not act, I am simply saying that government interaction is a tradeoff between equity and efficiency in a competitive market without market failures. I am a proponent of a voucher based system to give a credit towards rent for those in need. This reduces the government intervention on the supplier side. To be clear, these vouchers will slightly raise housing prices, likely not be implemented without exploitation, and make the overall economy slightly less efficient due to the tax. But the vouchers will also reduce inequity and provide people in need with a basic good. I think a lot of the problem is from too much government intervention. For example, people get a lot of tax breaks as a landlord. This makes it more desirable to buy and then rent out a house. This shifts the demand curve right raising prices and removing some people from the market (it reduces home ownership rates). I think those tax breaks should be removed, especially if the house is not your primary residence or is your second or third home. People will make the argument that this hurts the poor because people won't build for them. But then the discussions above about a competitive market and the voucher system are better in my opinion than giving tax breaks to companies that own hundreds of homes.