High housing costs are a government created problem caused by the negative consequences of policies and rules adopted in the past.  Most policies don't show their effects until years after they are adopted.  Supply constraints caused by Greenbelts and various zoning rules or new rent control restrictions ( or the November 12, 1981 removal of the MURB deduction for constructing rental only buildings) might have small immediate results, but the large effects take years to appear and then are hard to fix.  Blame government.......... Always!