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To Get Built, Housing Needs to Be Worth Building

City Journal
May 18, 2026
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In City Journal, Ramon Maislen explains that solving a housing affordability crisis – New York City’s in this case – depends on driving down the costs of bringing new units onto the market. Civic governments can’t control interest rates, but they can cut red tape, local taxes and constraints on construction companies. “If we want lower rents,” Maislen observes, “we need more housing. And if we want more housing, the math needs to add up for the people who build it.”

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