A Promising Plan to Spur Housing Gets Wrecked by Congress

Among the few things that Americans agree on these days is that housing is too expensive. With a shortfall of at least 3.7 million homes, the obvious solution is to build more. Regrettably, a once-promising effort in Congress intended to do just that now seems to be falling apart — a victim of populist politics gone awry.

Over the past two decades, home values have risen faster than incomes in much of the US. Rents have also soared in many cities, contributing to widespread worries about the cost of living. The main culprits are restrictive local zoning and land-use rules, which curb construction and investment. When cities ease such regulations to meet pent-up demand — as Austin and Minneapolis have, for example — the effect on prices is often dramatic.