Unlike industries such as electronics where efficiency drives down prices, the housing market resembles sectors like healthcare and higher education, where additional liquidity often results in higher costs.

These mandates force developers to overbuild parking, adding tens of thousands of dollars in costs per unit—costs that get passed down to renters and buyers, further exacerbating the housing crisis.

Cambridge’s reform directly challenges this pattern by making it easier to build new homes without the burdensome approval processes that have long favored the status quo.

Efforts to balance city budgets are opportunities to build consensus with the public about what municipalities can do, and at what cost. The coming months will show whether politicians and city residents are ready for these hard conversations.

Housing affordability isn’t going to fix itself. If cities are serious about tackling the housing crisis, they need to rethink outdated policies that slow development and drive up costs.