Another comment I had at the roundtable had to do with the concerns about housing and housing policy. Sometimes it is the case that simple solutions exist to economic problems. However I do not think it is the case with housing.

In part the reason is that too many things have been lumped together into a broad housing issue. This includes issues such as building capacity, regulatory impediments, as well as issues related to affordable housing. Affordable housing on its own is a complicated issue. If there exists solutions to the issue of affordable housing for people 65 years and older, there is no reason to believe such a solution would be the same for those aged 25 to 34. There is a very real chance that there would need to be distinct policies for each group, if you wanted to interfere with normal market operations, which I already pointed out is not a good option.

The pursuit of simple solutions is not a bad thing, but mistaking a complex, subtle issue for a simple one is unlikely to lead to a good understanding of the real problems let alone sensible policy.

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