America’s affordability crisis is a housing shortage. We can fix it in three steps
February 12, 2026
Family formation has cratered in the last fifteen years in the United States, with the fertility rate hitting a record low of just 1.6 babies per woman. One big reason young people are hesitant to get married and have a familyis that soaring housing costs have made having and raising children much more expensive. In fact, one new study finds that “51% of the total fertility rate decline between the 2000s and 2010s” can be attributed to the increased cost of housing.
So, what do young Americans want?
