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Money to burn, Paint with Alex Schaefer

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The housing shortage in the United States is the result of a combination of long-term structural, economic, regulatory, and social factors. Below is a summary of the key causes:

1. Underbuilding Since the 2008 Financial Crisis

Great Recession impact: After the 2008 housing crash, residential construction plummeted and remained below historical averages for over a decade.

Skilled labor shortages and builder hesitancy also contributed to the slower rebound.

2. Zoning and Land Use Regulations

Single-family zoning dominates in many urban and suburban areas, limiting multi-family and affordable housing options.

Height restrictions, lot size minimums, and parking requirements reduce density and raise construction costs.

Local opposition ("NIMBYism") often blocks or delays new developments.

3. High Construction Costs

Materials inflation (especially post-COVID), supply chain issues, and tariffs have made building more expensive.

Labor shortages in construction trades continue to limit output.

Land prices have skyrocketed, especially in growing metro areas.

4. Population Growth and Household Formation

Demand has risen due to:

Millennials forming households

Immigration and population growth

More people living alone or in smaller households

5. Investor Activity

Institutional investors buying up single-family homes and build-to-rent properties have reduced availability for individual buyers in some markets.

This can push prices higher and constrain supply.

6. Inadequate Public Housing and Subsidized Development

Federal investment in public and affordable housing has declined since the 1980s.

Housing vouchers and subsidies often fail to keep up with market rents or are limited in availability.

7. Regulatory and Permitting Delays

The lengthy and unpredictable permitting process in many cities increases project timelines and risk.

Environmental review laws like CEQA in California can be used to block or delay housing projects.

8. Short-Term Rentals and Second Homes

In high-demand areas, Airbnb-type rentals and vacation homes reduce the number of units available for long-term residents.

9. Aging Housing Stock

Much of the existing housing is old and in need of repair.

Aging homes are often less energy-efficient, less desirable, or even uninhabitable.

10. Climate and Natural Disasters

Fires, floods, and hurricanes (especially in California, Florida, and the Gulf Coast) have destroyed housing and increased insurance costs, deterring new development in high-risk areas.

Estimates and Consequences

The U.S. is currently short 3.8 to 6.5 million housing units, depending on the estimate.

Consequences include skyrocketing rents and home prices, increased homelessness, reduced mobility, and slower economic growth.

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The age-verification rule isn't aimed solely at sex sites, but at any digital entity where racy content or other "harmful" speech could be found.

In addition to Bluesky, Reddit, X, Discord, and Grinder "have now announced they will deploy age assurance" schemes, Ofcom says.

Services had until last week to start complying or face serious financial consequences.

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We need to resurrect the bacchanal. Partying is good for the psyche. Reason Magazine's, Emma Camp explains why.

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No kings.

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Alfred Leete The Lure of the Underground 1927

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How LSD Helped Launch a Radical Libertarian Counterculture

This interview has it all

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(C) Pope (The Canberra Times)

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Anarchism isn't chaos. It is voluntary cooperation rather than coercion. Anarchists understand that coercion is the root of violence.

~ The Southern Voluntarist

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Long before European governments or their colonies began to embrace "democracy," something far more democratic was widely practiced in the world's vast ungovernable spaces.

Black Sam Bellamy's 1717 pirate crew was "a collection of people in which there was likely to be at least some firsthand knowledge of a very wide range of directly democratic institutions," wrote David Graeber, the late anarchist and anthropologist, in one of his essays collected posthumously in The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World…. Those institutions ranged "from Swedish things to African village assemblies to Native American councils": a rich assortment of influences as the sailors found themselves "forced to improvise some mode of self-government in the complete absence of any state." The very ungovernability of the Atlantic itself, the vast inland frontiers, the dense forests and swamplands, made it "the perfect intercultural space" of experiment and improvisation.

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