Government intervention reflects popular will, and The People will themselves a housing crisis. They don't like change, they don't like neighbors, and they cert

Government intervention reflects popular will, and The People will themselves a housing crisis. They don't like change, they don't like neighbors, and they certainly don't like neighbors from different income levels than their own. The New York and San Francisco housing markets might be better governed by the Viennese electorate, but that's not on the table. They are governed by their own electorates, badly, and these are the results. Increasing the intensity of that governance will only amplify their already-revealed and already-governing preference that their cities be exclusionary museum pieces. Put another way, if you accept that housing scarcity is bad, going to the public and saying "How do you want housing in your city to be?" is only going to make it worse.