I'm pretty disappointed that their conclusion (more suburban sprawl) is just the continuation of the failed policies which have gotten us into this mess.

The gig Economy is the new serf class. No stability, no benefits, break the unions. The housing situation is just a byproduct, collateral damage if you will, on the assault on wages and labor.

I have wanted a house for as long as I can remember. For many reasons. Because I can do what I want with it, fill it with whatever I want, invite whoever I want over for dinner, and on and on and on. To me a house is status, it's independence, but most importantly, it's control. It's worth the trade off of having to worry about maintenance and such.

Each year I get older though and each year the world looks a little weirder and a little less familiar. Jobs and economy, politics and social discourse, technology. 15 years is a long time and in my eyes too long of a time to be in debt to someone. When I don't know what I'm going to look like five, ten, or fifteen years from now, and I certainly don't know what the world is going to look like five, ten, or fifteen years from now, the prospect of a mortgage seems riskier and riskier. Rising home prices don't help, because the higher the price I have to pay for a house, the greater risk I'll take if I take out a loan.

15 years is 120 months. It's 5475 days. It's 131,400 hours. Those months, those days, those hours are all filled with countless moments where your life can change in a way you've never expected. A debt like a home loan is a pretty big risk.

I was tempted to go all “ well, actually...” on this, but I think the questions raised are much more interesting to discuss than the answer proposed. Can the trend of an increasingly unequal, speculative and unreachable housing market be reversed, and how? Can (and should) we give everyone the home they want in the city they want it in?

I don’t have a good answer, although it will surprise nobody that I tend to favor dense urban transit/bike-friendly/walkable places. Personally, I feel blessed to be able to rent in the city I wanted to live in. The housing market here is not as awful LA, but some places are getting there with a market dominated by rich and older people. I know more than a few people who spend over half their dual income on rent and utilities and have no wiggle room to save up for a down payment. Housing was the issue during the recent local elections; the good places have become unaffordable for most while the mediocre places are now priced at what the good places were. I’m more and more convinced that this apparently untenable situation will have to break soon, but markets are always unreasonable for a much longer time than they should, so I can just as easily see this going on for much longer. I sure hope not though...

I think the reality is that people have to be more ready to live outside the "top 5" cities. I'm from Toronto, and at the current level of housing inflation in my city, will likely never be able to purchase a home. But just outside, their are other communities (Hamilton, Markham, other former small towns) that are seeing a massive influx of younger people looking to start families. 25 years ago they used to be quite small and undeveloped, yet over the last few decades have started on an accelerated path so becoming cities. So while this housing bubble (and yes, despite what the boomers say, I'm very convinced it is) is creating problems within the most dense urban areas, there are numerous opportunities if you're willing to live outside.

We still let them vote so they're not quite serfs yet. The way the GOP is going, give it 5 years--they'll fix that problem. (Full disclosure I know several Republicans who sincerely think that only land owners should be allowed to vote, because "all renters are on welfare." These people are members of my family whom I no longer discuss politics with.)