Vox Sentences - There’s a housing shortage everywhere

The US housing shortage is nationwide; Italy’s prime minister offers to resign.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

How the housing shortage became everyone’s problem

Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images

• Because of years of underproduction, the US housing shortage, once considered a coastal problem, now affects virtually all parts of the country. [Bloomberg / Noah Buhayar]
• The US is now 3.8 million homes short of meeting demand — a figure that doubled between 2012-2019, according to the research group Up for Growth. The problem persists across dozens of states and hundreds of urban areas. [NYT / Emily Badger and Eve Washington]
• During the 2008 housing crash, many builders went out of business. Over the following decade, the US built fewer homes than it needed. [NPR / Chris Arnold, Robert Benincasa, Jacqueline Ganun, and Haidee Chu]
• The lack of supply worsened during the coronavirus pandemic, as Americans in search of more space bought homes with the help of low interest rates. The shortage has led to surging prices for homes and rent. [Al Jazeera /  Radmilla Suleymanova]
• This year, the Federal Reserve began hiking interest rates to curb record inflation, which could lessen demand and make buying a home more affordable. However, the problem of undersupply is likely to persist. [The Hill / Sylvan Lane]

Italy's prime minister tries to resign

• Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced his resignation late Thursday after the 5-Star party — a key member of his coalition government — refused to back him over a government relief bill. [Associated Press / Frances D’Emilio]
• Senators in the 5-Star party abstained from a vote of confidence, due to dissatisfaction with Draghi’s bill; specifically, the party has environmental concerns about a new garbage incinerator outside Rome. [Washington Post / Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli]
• President Sergio Mattarella refused to accept Draghi’s resignation, and asked him first to address parliament to evaluate the political situation. [CNN / Livia Borghese and Sharon Braithwaite]
• Draghi is expected to go to parliament Wednesday. If he fails to gain enough support, his government could collapse, triggering elections just as lawmakers planned to begin work on the 2023 budget. [BBC / Davide Ghiglione and Paul Kirby]

Donald Trump says he’s made his decision about running for president in 2024. [New York Magazine / Olivia Nuzzi]

• Rescue crews located all 40 people missing after six inches of rain caused extensive flooding in rural Virginia. [CNN / Aya Elamroussi, Michelle Watson, and Alaa Elassar]
• House Republicans are working on legislation that would rescind rights for trans people if they win control of Congress. [Reuters / Moira Warburton and Rose Horowitch]
• Thursday, a mile-long convoy of 52 school buses with thousands of empty seats representing child victims of gun violence visited Sen. Ted Cruz’s home. [BuzzFeed News / Steffi Cao]

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“In prior years, households had many more opportunities to move to locations where housing is abundant and affordable for a wide variety of income levels. But that’s becoming less and less of an option.”

[Emily Hamilton, Mercatus Center researcher / New York Times]

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