CNBC reported this month that apartment vacancies across America have climbed to an all-time high. On the surface, that sounds like good news. More empty units should mean more options and more affordable rents for working families.
In a healthy market, higher supply puts downward pressure on prices. But that is not what is happening in many parts of the country. Instead, vacancy is rising at the same time rents remain stubbornly high. This contradiction is not a mystery. It is the direct result of progressive housing policies that have distorted the market, choked off development, and punished landlords while offering nothing to renters beyond talking points.
What this report reveals is simple. America does not have a housing shortage. It has a policy shortage. The failed experiments of blue state and blue city governments have created artificial scarcity, strangled new construction, and blocked meaningful development at every turn. (RELATED: Trump Admin Confirms Plans To Introduce 50-Year Mortgage Terms For Homebuyers)
At the same time, inflation under President Biden crushed middle class families and drove construction costs through the roof. The result is a bizarre and unsustainable market where apartments sit empty while everyday Americans struggle to find affordable places to live.
Progressives love to blame landlords. They blame developers. They blame “corporate greed.” They never blame themselves. Yet the cities with the worst affordability crises are the same cities that impose heavy-handed zoning, rent-control regimes, endless environmental reviews, rigid height and density limits, and layers of fees, permits, and approvals that slow development to a crawl. San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago.
The pattern is always the same. Bureaucrats stack regulation on top of regulation until it becomes nearly impossible to build new housing at a reasonable cost. Then they act shocked when the market breaks.
Record high vacancy should be pushing rents down. But progressive governments have created such a warped system that even deepening supply cannot overcome structural dysfunction. Developers cannot adjust pricing because construction, tax, and regulatory burdens are fixed and crushing.
Landlords cannot reduce rents because rent control, eviction freezes, and punitive code enforcement punish anyone who tries to operate a property like an actual business. The incentive to build has collapsed, and the incentive to keep units offline has risen. This is the opposite of how a functioning market works.
Meanwhile, red states are proving that another path is possible. Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and other pro-growth states have embraced streamlined permitting, pro-building zoning, and policies that attract development rather than repel it. These states are not dealing with runaway rents or empty buildings. They are seeing population growth, robust construction, and competitive pricing.
The contrast could not be clearer. Conservative states trust markets. Progressive states trust bureaucrats. One approach works. The other is collapsing in real time.
When vacancy hits a historic high and affordability still collapses, the system is broken at its foundation. High interest rates have crippled financing for builders. Federal rules and local mandates push developers toward expensive “inclusionary” units instead of broad-market construction. Billions in subsidies have been poured into blue-city housing programs with almost nothing to show for it. Every lever the left has pulled has made housing scarcer and more expensive.
The losers in this system are not wealthy progressives who can afford to live wherever they want. The losers are young families. First time renters. Seniors on fixed incomes. Teachers, police officers, nurses, and service workers who simply want a clean and safe place to live. The Democratic Party claims to speak for working Americans, but its housing policies punish them. A record level of empty apartments should be an opportunity for relief. Instead, progressives have turned it into another crisis.
A serious national housing strategy should start with one principle: Free markets, not ideological planners, create affordability. The federal government should encourage states to streamline zoning. Local governments should eliminate unnecessary barriers to construction. Rent control should be retired forever.
Permitting should be fast and predictable. Incentives should reward development, not block it. And above all, economic policy should focus on taming inflation so that builders can build and families can breathe again.
This report in CNBC is not just another headline. It is a mirror reflecting the consequences of progressive policy failure. America has the supply, and now with President Trump in charge we have the leadership needed to make changes.
Bob Rubin is the Founder and President of Rubin Wealth Advisors in Boca Raton, Florida. Learn more: www.rubinwa.com
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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