> We need to stop treating housing as a speculative asset.
Something I've been yelling from the rooftops.
Housing can either be affordable, or it can be an investment that's bought, rented, and sold for the sole purpose of profit. It's not possible for it to be both.
People expect their house to appreciate faster than inflation, but all that does is rob the next generation of home ownership.
Many, many years ago multiple generations would live in one home that may have even been built by a generation that is long dead.
And now, when mom and dad downsize after the kids move out, rather than selling the house or pass it to one of their children, they rent it out.
Alternatively, they keep the house, but get either a reverse mortgage or a cash out refi to survive until they die, at which point their kids can't afford to buy it from the bank.
What are the proposals for accomplishing this?
Increase taxes on rental income on single-family homes and double the property tax on vacant homes to discourage hoarding.
Encourage building upwards to increase housing supply. This can be done via tax breaks or subsidies. Especially encourage multi-use buildings to make cities walkable. Stores/restaurants at the street level with apartments above.
Ditch or reform/restrict the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Remove barriers to building more housing. Other stuff, but you can do a web search, I'm sure.