I’ve been hearing a lot about how Wall Street is primarily to blame for the dramatic rise in housing costs. Yes, it’s easy to blame Wall Street for everything, but in this particular instance, it’s neither productive nor accurate.

The reality is that there’s been a shortage of housing options for low-income households in the U.S. for decades. ”Nickel and Dimed,” a book written by journalist Barbara Ehrenreich in 1998, is essentially about housing, examining how hard-working, low-wage individuals in multiple U.S. markets struggle to survive, mostly because there is no access to affordable housing.

Sound familiar? It should. And the sad truth is, we’re worse off today than we were two decades ago.

“To increase the production of housing and lower its cost, all State and local legislatures should enact legislation providing that no zoning regulations denying or limiting the development of housing should be deemed valid unless their existence or adoption is necessary to achieve a vital and pressing governmental interest…

Unless a locality can demonstrate that there is a vital and pressing governmental interest associated with the density of development, the market mechanism should be allowed to function without density constraints. Only in this manner can the market respond to economic realities and changing household preferences.”

This excerpt was from the President’s Commission on Housing … 40 years ago. Considering that 63% of households consist of only one or two people while 12% of housing stock is studio and one-bedroom units, according to Census data, there’s no question that following those recommendations would unlock new supply and improve affordability.

Regardless of your political affiliation, anyone willing to look at the historical data can see the massive housing supply/demand imbalance that has existed for low-income workers for decades. I know everyone in the affordable housing industry feels the same way.

Let me be clear: Discriminatory and nonsensical local zoning is undeniably the root cause of our housing crisis. For the people in the back: Don’t blame Wall Street, blame your local zoning.

Let me lay out how local zoning is the root cause of the problem. Is there a lack of land? No. Is there a lack of builders or housing providers? No. Are these builders having difficulty accessing capital? Definitely not.

Read the full article about affordable housing by Atticus LeBlanc at Smart Cities Dive.