# Housing crisis

An affordable housing crisis or housing crisis is either a widespread housing shortage in places where people want to live or a financial crisis in the housing market. Housing crises can contribute to homelessness and housing insecurity. They are difficult to address, because they are a complex "web of problems and dysfunctions" with many contributing factors, but generally result from housing costs rising faster than household income.
There is an ongoing decades-long increasing trend of cities around the world facing housing crises. Some notable examples of financial crises in the housing market are the American subprime mortgage crisis in 2007-2008 and the Chinese property sector crisis beginning in 2020.

## Global

In much of the world, incomes are too low to afford basic formal housing, as housing expenses have increased faster than wages in many cities, especially since the global financial crisis of 2008. In some places, this leads to informal settlement in slums or shantytowns, while in others such informal settlements are prohibited. Even regions that are not experiencing an overall housing shortage may experience shortages for specific segments of the population, such as in affordable housing for very-low income populations or permanent supportive housing for those with disabilities.
Although major cities around the world face housing shortages, substantial variation exists across countries and across planning systems. Among developed countries, for example, cities in Japan have relatively abundant and affordable housing for their size, which some have attributed to nationalized control of zoning and easy and fast permitting for housing construction. Most English-speaking countries, on the other hand, stand out for planning systems that enable NIMBY obstruction of housing, with prices rising and housing falling into shortage as a result. Developed European countries, which favor higher density construction than Anglophone countries, have followed a path intermediate between these two.

### Causes

Economists debate the causes of the crisis. In 2022, economists Christian Hilber and Olivier Schöni found that the primary strand in this debate argues that supply constraints such as land use restrictions prevented the meeting of growing housing demand, resulting in higher housing costs. Others strands in the debate found causes in macroeconomic factors, financing conditions, and poor forecasting of expected prices. People's poor earnings also contribute to the global crisis.
A study by Moody's Analytics found that the main causes of the crisis also included shortages of labor and materials. The COVID-19 pandemic may also have exacerbated the crisis. In some places, refugee crises are a contributing factor.

### Impacts

Housing crises have contributed to social unrest in cities around the world. They have especially hurt the finances of Millennials and Generation Z, who entered a more competitive housing market, resulting in paying a higher proportion of income towards housing costs. Politico suggests that in many countries this has allowed populist politicians to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment among younger voters and has resulted in a generation more skeptical of the ability of democracy to deliver results.
A "considerable number" of investors have profited from the housing crisis.

## National
### India

According to a 2012 report by the National Buildings Organisation (NBO), the shortage of housing units in urban areas was estimated to be 18.78 million. The shortfall is particularly acute for households belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (total household income does not exceed 300,000 rupees), with a shortage of 10.55 million units, as well as the Lower Income Group (total household income is between 300,000 and 600,000 rupees), with a shortage of 7.41 million units. The Middle Income Group and above (households with a total annual income exceeding 600,000 rupees) face a shortfall of 0.82 million units.

### New Zealand

Auckland quickly boosted supply and slowed the increase in rents and home prices by loosening constraints on the construction. Auckland saw rents grow more slowly than in other parts of the country and more slowly than incomes since it started reforming its housing laws in 2013. As of July 2024, Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy estimated that rents were 28% lower than they would have been without the reforms. Building on Auckland's success, the national government passed a bipartisan upzoning of much of the country's largest cities to allow 3 units and 3 stories on all residential parcels in October of 2021.

### United Kingdom

The United Kingdom faces regional shortages of housing, with undersupply and high demand in the south, relative to more abundant housing in economically depressed areas of the north.
The UK National Planning Policy Framework uses the "standard formula" to assess local housing need. The formula uses household growth projections, adjusted for affordability Critics of this method say that it does not account for the present backlog of housing. Households that live in poorly maintained or overcrowded accommodations would not be represented in the standard formula. A 2019 report estimates that 4.75 million households in Great Britain are in need of adequate affordable housing.
In the 2019 general election, both major political parties identified the housing gap as an obstacle for the country, and pledged to increase housing supply. The Parliament has a stated target of 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.