> we're not living in the counterfactual reality where there are millions of new apartments that are inexpensive, tiny, safe, quiet, modern, clean, dignified, a

> we're not living in the counterfactual reality where there are millions of new apartments that are inexpensive, tiny, safe, quiet, modern, clean, dignified, and well-located It is true that there's way too much (and way too costly) red tape to build housing. At the same time, it's also true that even if you skip all that, building is expensive due to materials & labor in any urban or suburban area. Look at building costs in your area by sqft, just for labor & materials. Building cheap units (for a local wage-adjusted level of cheap) is very difficult without some form of external assistance (e.g. like low-income units subsidized by other units).