There are concrete reasons why housing is often unaffordable now, as opposed to being more affordable in the past. A part of the problem is the spending / inflation. Another cause is not the lack of homes. It is in fact the overabundance of homes in the wrong places. This raises the property values and home prices in these areas, thus making more areas of the country less affordable. It has been said that much of the baby boomer generation made lifestyle decisions with no regard as to long-term consequences for the future. There was often no consideration as to whether their activities served to establish respect, a positive legacy or whether it served to keep / preserve existing wealth and quality. This includes not only many of the purchasers / renters, but also many city planners, when they divide land into as many small lots as possible, or developers and some county commissioners, when an effort is made to rezone land that was not even intended for housing, with the bribes of developer money.
All such areas could otherwise represent more space for the next generation, a place to work and generate wealth, often on their own property, where there are fewer homes, yet homes that are both more desirable and more affordable. Thus the affordability problem is not due so much to home size. It is due to land use, and the fact that home building was not intended to be a state-sponsored or publicly traded, commercial enterprise, but an individual, private craft, known by a large part of the citizenry, used when truly needed and passed down within the family.
The deindustrialization of the cities is not without consequence for the rest of the country, and what was done all throughout the country as a source of quick money to accommodate this corruption is one of the greatest sources of poverty and frustration now.

This is an example of what these statements really mean:
"Capitalism will be the rope by which we hang them."

• Lenin

"In the capitalist world, the so-called free people fear the eruption of World War III. They believe it will be an atomic war. They do not know that the Third World War has been in process in every continent, every country, in every street of every town and village. And who do you think is winning this war? Who is adopting whose image? Are we, Communists, adopting the Western multi-party political system, or are the so-called free people around the world adopting the one party political system? Are we, Communists, embracing the free-enterprise economic system, or are the so-called free people in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere adopting the state-run economic system? Are we, Communists, acquiring faith in God and belief in an eternal life, or are the so-called free people becoming more cynical about the human soul? Tell me, who is adopting whose image? Who is winning the Third World War?"
-Marxist professor at the University of Prague.

In contrast to this is Donald J. Trump, also a builder, who rather than assist in the demise of America's greatest cities, helped save New York City from the verge of bankruptcy. Thus the problem of affordable housing is not the sole responsibility of the president, but of Congress with their spending, the millions of other people on the state and local levels, and whether their decisions are in keeping with what works.

www.donaldjtrump.com