Can anything stop the crippling rise of housing prices?

An eclectic mix of policy thinkers want to reform land use regulations. But that won't address the heart of the problem.

The balance is off.
(Image credit: Gary Waters/Ikon Images/Corbis)

Americans are being eaten alive by housing costs. In July, prices rose over 10 percent in major cities like San Francisco and Denver. Nationally, they rose at twice the rate of wages.

The quest to slay this particular dragon has produced an eclectic movement of technocratic lefties, libertarians, and reformists conservatives who share one particular solution: reforming land use regulations. More interestingly, they're pitching this as an under-appreciated way to tackle rising inequality.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.