Grüezi Amerika Episode 32 – Making a Home in America

Owning a home, surrounded by a white picket fence – that’s what many consider part of the proverbial American dream. However, Americans are increasingly pessimistic that they will ever become homeowners - they are aware that significantly more people are looking for houses than the market has on offer: there is a shortage of over 4.7 million homes. In addition, nearly a third of American households are “cost burdenend,” meaning that they need to spend at least 30% of their incomes on housing. In Chicago, the third largest city in the US, the percentage is even higher, at 43%. Why has housing become such a thorny subject in a country with abundant land? And how can the housing shortage be addressed?

Joshua Bandoch, PhD, is working on this issue as Head of Policy at the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI). Prior to joining IPI, Josh was a Research Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a speechwriter for numerous senior government officials. He started his professional career in academia, with postdoctoral fellowships at Brown University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his Bachelor’s in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame. His first book The Politics of Place: Montesquieu, Particularism, and the Pursuit of Liberty (University of Rochester Press, 2017) has received numerous positive reviews. His second book, How to Get What You Want, will come out next year with Simon & Schuster.

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