It depends on how far you overbuilt in the current boom. The hangover can last quite a while depending on how far overbuilding has gone. Like I said, the Japane

It depends on how far you overbuilt in the current boom. The hangover can last quite a while depending on how far overbuilding has gone. Like I said, the Japanese bubble was entirely market driven and the real estate prices there have never recovered from the last spate of overbuilding 30 years after the fact. And like I said, I'm observing rental and price drops beginning now where I live. There's also the fact that right now, anyone still working on a project is going to try and complete it to be able to sell something rather than to sell nothing and still pay their loans; right now there are multiple 40 story residential towers in Seattle still chugging along despite the start of rent falls. You can't have this excess if you never built rapidly enough in the first place. And at that point you've missed your shot. I think public building is an important part of a long-term solution. However, I also think that local and state governments can't do it alone, and the feds are very unwilling to help, so in terms of the realism of getting 60 senators on board with funding publicly built housing, it's a bit of a fool's errand.