DEBATE: Unpacking The Housing Crisis with Chuck Marohn from Strong Towns and Nolan Gray with California YIMBY.

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You can stream the full episode on Desktop, Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.

Finding Common Ground: Chuck Marohn and Nolan Gray

In this episode, I hosted a debate between two prominent figures in urban planning and housing policy: Chuck Marohn, founder of Strong Towns and author of Strong Towns, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, and Escaping the Housing Trap, and Nolan Gray, senior director at California YIMBY and author of Arbitrary Lines. 

The conversation was sparked by an unexpected and lively exchange I noticed between them on Twitter (X). Surprised to see two influential figures in the New Urbanist movement disagreeing, I invited them to hash it out on the podcast—and they graciously agreed. What followed was a thoughtful discussion on the nuances of housing affordability, urban design, and shared visions for better communities.

The Financialization of Housing

Housing today isn’t just about providing shelter—it’s a financial product, deeply embedded in our economy. As Chuck points out, the 2008 financial crisis was famously called a housing bubble for a reason, and the question remains: how do you “recover” from a bubble?

This shift didn’t happen overnight. Chuck explains how decades of policy, from the post-WWII GI Bill to government-backed 30-year mortgages, unintentionally transformed housing from a basic human necessity into a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, with its value increasingly tied to financial markets rather than the needs of everyday people.

Over the years, successive policies have attempted to address the problems created by earlier housing legislation, but each has brought unintended consequences that worsened the issue. These externalities required further interventions, creating a cycle that culminated in the 2008 housing crisis and continues to drive instability today. 

Instead of increasing the supply of housing, these policies have focused on enabling buyers to pay more for the same housing. The result? A system designed to push prices ever higher, where rising home values are a feature, not a flaw, leaving countless first-time buyers and renters completely priced out of the market and with little hope of finding affordable housing.

Can We Unlock Affordability via Supply?

Nolan counters that supply-side constraints are the heart of the housing crisis. Restrictive zoning and over-regulation have created artificial scarcity, driving up prices.

He highlights California, with its astronomically high housing prices, in contrast to fast-growing cities like Austin, Texas, where relaxed zoning laws have enabled a surge in multifamily housing and declining rents—demonstrating the significant impact of reducing supply-side barriers.

To be clear, Chuck agrees with Nolan that zoning, building codes, and regulatory barriers have restricted housing supply and thereby increased prices. Nolan also acknowledges that financial policies have contributed to rising prices. Their approaches differ in emphasis, but both highlight essential pieces of the puzzle.

For the record, I agree with both of them and would also add monetary policy—specifically the printing of money and the growth of the M2 money supply—as a crucial factor that desperately needs to be addressed if we want to address housing affordability.

A Path Forward: Merging Strategies

Fixing the housing crisis requires combining supply-side reforms with systemic financial changes. Here are a few key takeaways from the discussion:

1. Unlock Supply: Legalize Incremental, Human-Scaled Development

   Think backyard cottages, duplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, and live/work units. These are scalable, community-focused housing solutions. To enable them, cities need comprehensive reform in zoning, fire departments, building codes, utility policies, engineering, and permitting. Changes are also needed at the Federal level such as FHA reform and getting control of fire codes, and ending highway subsidies.

2. Pre-Approved Plans

   Borrowing from successful models like South Bend, Indiana, pre-approved building plans can cut red tape and lower costs. This empowers smaller developers to build faster and more affordably.

3. Local Solutions

   Local governments must act, as most supply-side reforms are unlikely to come from the Federal level. City Councils and State Legislators have immense power in this arena. Local governments could also help unlock small-scale development and incremental growth via support of financing and loan products for things like ADUs and missing-middle housing.

4. End Demand-Side Subsidies

   While it’s a complex issue, policies that help people pay more for the same housing—such as the floated idea of $25,000 down payment assistance—are not real solutions to the problem. While they may benefit a small number of people in the short term, these subsidies ultimately do more harm than good by driving up housing prices across the board. Housing is too expensive for a reason, and we need to focus on addressing the root causes rather than printing money to give the illusion of affordability.

Next Steps: Transforming Our Habitats

The housing crisis is more than an economic challenge—it’s a systemic issue. Addressing it requires a shift in how we think about housing.

As Chuck emphasizes, we must focus on creating regenerative, local ecosystems that prioritize long-term resilience over short-term extraction. By doing so, we can craft neighborhoods that are not just more affordable but also more beautiful, sustainable, and human.

If you’re interested in this topic, including a deep dive into financialization and supply challenges, I highly recommend you check out the full episode, along with their books. Here, I’ve only scratched the surface of the ideas we explore in our conversation.

You can stream the full episode on Desktop, Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.

Until next time!

Austin