The housing crisis has so many Americans on edge that they are clamoring for relief at the ballot box. But we should be wary of “solutions” hawked by politicians that would actually make the crisis worse.
Texans should watch with interest what’s happening in New York City, where the cost of living is so unattainable that even white-collar workers with stable incomes can’t afford an apartment bigger than a shoe box. Many of those New Yorkers are leaving for Texas or other states where their dollars stretch further.
Zohran Mamdani entered the national conversation about housing affordability with his decisive win in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City last week. Mamdani, 33, overcame better-known candidates on a platform of making New York more affordable. Unfortunately, that platform is a progressive wishlist of housing policies that are proven failures.
Mamdani said he would freeze rents on one million rent-stabilized apartment units. He also promised to pour in $100 billion to build 200,000 public housing units. He claims he will pay for all of this by raising taxes on the wealthy and on corporations. In Texas, we know what that means because we’ve seen it for years — people and corporations suddenly deciding our summers are tolerable after all.
Supply limits do raise prices.
