"Prison slave labor builds homes"

No landlord wants new housing build. And prison labor is rarely used in residential construction, or really construction at all.

Treating housing as an investment is the real culprit of the current housing affordability crisis. Banks sold people on the idea that a house isn't just place to live but an investment, and people want their investment to appreciate in value, which by nature means it has to get more expensive. There is a natural incentive for current housing owners to restrict supply to inflate value, this is true both of a company like Blackrock that owns thousands of homes, your local residential property kulak who owns two apartment buildings and a laundromat, and your grandpa and grandma who own a 3 bed room and plan on selling it to retire to Daytona Beach.

Can't explain the housing crisis without addressing land rent itself as well as financialization. The whole system is bound to housing values always increasing faster than inflation.

I was thinking that you'd think some sections of the bourgeoisie would realize that landlords being free to increase rents constantly and with nearly no restrictions is fucking them over because it's a constant pressure on them to raise their own employees' wages,

but then I realized the bourgeoisie is all invested in mutual funds and shit and on average probably benefits more from rent and property value increases than they lose out on even when they're forced to raise wages