because there’s a big gulf between “afford” and “survive”. The point at which most people could afford housing passed by long ago, nowadays housing is something

because there’s a big gulf between “afford” and “survive”. The point at which most people could afford housing passed by long ago, nowadays housing is something many people are only able to survive the cost of by making big sacrifices elsewhere. Housing is not optional, there’s no room to cut a little cost here or a little cost there, so everything else is sacrificed before it. Landlords couldn’t care less about affordability, so “the market” is very happy to make money by pushing people into survival mode. (Affordability in housing is often measured as being up to 30% of income, whereas people can survive by sacrificing everything else — including heat, and food — spending up to 80% of their income on housing. That gap is where the increases and profit of the last decade have been coming from.)