Builder Emerson Claus and his foreman Rene Landeverde at the site of an apartment they are building in a suburb of Boston.
"What I call a bloodbath happened," says Claus. It was the worst housing market crash since the Great Depression. Many homebuilders went out of business. Claus was building houses in Florida when the bottom fell out. But then the pandemic hit. Things shut down and some of those workers left. Now, with unemployment so low, Landeverde can't find people to hire like he used to.Claus says that's made it more difficult for builders to respond to the surge in demand for homes during the pandemic.
"You have to build single family units on lots that are bigger than the market wants," Dietz says."This is not a free market choice. It's a government-imposed rule."
NPR Why doesn't this piece mention the effect short-term rentals have had on the housing crisis? Because it's huge.