Housing is on track to have a much larger impact on our country than usual, listed as one of the major issues to solve for more economic prosperity according to recent meetings in Washington DC and according to this Politico article. Can a top down approach help change the regulation that is strangling housing?
The Trump administration on Thursday warned that affordable housing constraints are a potential threat to U.S. economic growth, blasting New York and 10 other metropolitan areas for excessive regulations that are driving up costs and fueling homelessness.
In the annual report of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the administration highlighted housing alongside issues such as the opioid crisis as key policy challenges that needed to be addressed to extend the nation's record economic expansion.
The report takes aim at cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, Denver and Baltimore, arguing that the inability to build enough housing to meet demand in those areas has driven home prices far beyond construction costs.
"The housing affordability problem shows no signs of subsiding in certain markets, as housing construction fails to keep up with demand, putting upward pressure on home prices and rents," officials said in the report.
In its overall economic outlook, White House economists projected gross domestic product this year would grow less than 2.5 percent if current policies remained in place — another year in which the economy would fall short of the 3 percent growth touted by President Donald Trump but not yet achieved during his time in office. The White House said growth could break 3 percent this year if Trump's full economic agenda were implemented.
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