Why Housing Is So Expensive — Particularly in Blue States
About this episode
Klein talks with housing economist Jenny Schuetz about why housing is so expensive, especially in prosperous blue cities. Schuetz explains that restrictive zoning, lengthy approval processes, and neighborhood opposition have choked off new construction where demand is highest, driving up prices and rents. They discuss how well-meaning progressive cities became the most exclusionary, the economics of why building more works, and what policies — upzoning, streamlined permitting, tenant protections — could actually help. The conversation connects housing scarcity to homelessness, inequality, and labor mobility: when workers cannot afford to live where the jobs are, the whole economy suffers.