Affordability in America

Editors’ Notes

The National Roundtable on the American Dream is this week. Please join us at one of the later today or on Saturday to connect with your fellow Americans for a real conversation about affordability and the future of the nation. Your insights will be anonymously shared with the nation through an AllSides report featured by Newsweek. Sign up now.

Our editor-in-chief recently bought his first home (everyone say congrats to Henry!), but as the median first-time home buyer’s age reaches 40—the highest age on record—for many that dream feels out of reach. Grocery, energy, and healthcare costs have also risen significantly. But how much is the economy to blame and how much value should people place on personal responsibility and creating good money habits? And are burritos really $20 now?

News about Affordability

Over the past few months several polls have shown that affordability is a top issue for Americans. A Harris Poll conducted for The Guardian (Left) found that 95% of US adults believe the US is facing an affordability crisis. The McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation conducted a survey that found that many Americans believe affordability is the "defining challenge" when it comes to economic mobility.

Analysis and Opinions about The American Dream

Opinions from the right and the left agreed that housing is a key part of the affordability challenge and is limiting Americans from achieving their dream, though they disagreed over whether Congress’ 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would be a step in the right direction. The right was more likely to suggest increasing competition and cutting red tape as solutions, while the left favored increasing social safety nets.

In the Washington Examiner (Lean Right) a columnist wrote, “For many Hispanic families, the American dream has always meant buying a home, raising a family, and creating a better future for the next generation. As one of the nation’s youngest and fastest-growing communities, many Hispanics are reaching those milestones just as they are becoming harder than ever to afford.”

They suggested, “Cutting red tape to expand housing options, including accessory dwelling units; reducing lot sizes for detached cottages, smaller homes, and other flexible housing choices would help make that goal attainable for more Hispanic families…Expanding domestic energy production and streamlining permitting can help lower costs while ensuring families have access to reliable energy…[and] Families need a healthcare system that is as flexible as today’s workforce. Greater price transparency, more competition, and the ability to purchase insurance across state lines would help lower costs while making coverage more portable as people change jobs, start businesses, or pursue new opportunities.”

A CNBC analysis (Lean Left) said, “Economically speaking, the American Dream started slipping with globalization, as companies put downward pressure on American wages by moving out of the U.S. and hiring foreign labor, Rank says…Gen Zers are even more dissatisfied with their opportunities, Blanchflower says, amid factors like underemployment, the Covid-19 pandemic, war, trade tariffs, artificial intelligence, automation and job-hugging. Forty-two percent of Gen Zers say the American Dream isn’t achievable for everyone, only some people, according to a new CNBC and SurveyMonkey American Dream Pulse Survey…Instead, today’s youngest generations are likely to do what young people do best: make the best of their circumstances, reconfigure their goals and make incremental progress on what they can change.”

A writer for Fox News (Right) said, “There is no quick fix. But there is a path forward — one that requires taking on the full set of forces shaping the housing market. This means addressing financing, expanding supply, tackling rising insurance costs, zoning restrictions, protecting access to inventory and breaking down barriers that keep Americans from owning a home…At its core, homeownership is about more than having a place to call your own. It’s a foundation for financial stability, wealth building and community well-being. It drives economic strength.”

A Los Angeles Times (Lean Left) piece read, “It’s fascinating that millions of Americans who benefit from Social Security and Medicare fail to understand that these are massively popular social-democratic programs…’With younger voters, we were told this American dream of “work hard and you can live a life of dignity.” And we know that’s not true,’ Quintero told me. ‘It doesn’t exist anymore. A lot of us are working and can’t afford healthcare, housing, the basic necessities. It’s valid for us to be upset and do something about it.’ That something, for an increasing number of Americans, is to reimagine the Democratic Party as, once again, the party of the working class.”