Housing Unaffordability Is a Government-Created Problem
May 17, 2026 · Frisian News
Restrictive zoning laws and building permits, not market forces, have made housing unaffordable in developed countries. Governments that loosen these rules see housing supply increase and prices stabilize.
A family in Amsterdam pays a steep monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in a working-class neighborhood. Thirty years ago, the same flat cost a fraction of that. The mortgage on a modest house is now very high. Young people have stopped looking for homes. They stay with parents or crowd into shared housing. This is not the result of free markets. This is what government control looks like.
Zoning regulations strangle development. Cities restrict where builders can construct homes. Environmental reviews delay projects for years. Heritage protections freeze entire districts. Building codes add substantially to construction costs. Parking mandates eat up land. These rules do not come from economics. They come from bureaucrats and neighbors who benefit from scarcity and vote to keep it that way.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands and other wealthy countries have plenty of land. The population density argument falls apart when you examine actual data. The problem is not too many people. The problem is too few houses, and too few houses because governments forbid builders from building them. When cities relax these rules, builders respond. Housing supply increases. Prices fall. This happens repeatedly, in every jurisdiction that tries it.
Young families and workers cannot compete in this game. Investors and speculators park money in real estate because they know scarcity drives appreciation. Banks extend massive mortgages to people who cannot afford them once interest rates move. Governments then blame builders, landlords, and the market. They propose rent controls and price caps, which make the shortage worse. They ban short-term rentals, shrinking supply further. Each "solution" tightens the noose.
The fix requires politicians to do what they resist most: abandon control. Open zoning codes. Eliminate unnecessary permits. Cut building regulations to safety essentials only. Stop protecting views and property values for wealthy homeowners. Friesland's smaller towns still have affordable housing because builders can still build. That model works everywhere if rulers allow it.
Published May 17, 2026 · Frisian News