I know this isn't how our political system works, but if I were king of America I'd try to solve the problem of expensive housing like this:

-Confirm housing is too expensive (for whom, where)

-Ask people why they think housing is too expensive and read some books on the topic

-Come up with a list of a few reasonable reasons from said reading

-try addressing those reasons with experiments in different locations to see what works (or check if someone has already done this)

-apply learnings broadly.

Instead our system is more like: -try to get elected and win points by criticizing others' ideas

-do nothing or spend a trillion dollars trying to solve it based on an idea a lobbying group told me is the reason housing is expensive

-be replaced by someone who disagree with me completely in 2 or 4 years