Although America is capitalistic in structure, it also has governmental interests known as public utilities that are socialistic in structure. That is to say, things that we take for granted, such as water and electricity are typically provided to us via a public utility, which is regulated on behalf of the people, for the expressed benefit of those people. Obviously when it comes to water and electricity, there is a necessary large monetary investment in infrastructure, in order to best accomplish such; of which, if this was instead, solely in the hands of private enterprise, those private enterprise operators would subsequently then have the power to charge,in essence, whatever price that they so desired, for having control of that market, to the detriment of all those that essentially need water and electricity in order to have some semblance of a decent life.
When it comes to housing, and ultimately the affordability of housing, there are a fair amount of options and programs, public as well as private, so available, of which, people with enough money and/or good credit, can purchase their own home, or those with fair credit and a decent income stream, are pretty much unrestricted in the renting of or even the possible purchase of a home; but then, when we ultimately get down to those that are our most vulnerable, of which, these people are often not credit worthy, and typically are also income impoverished, we thus have this construct in which these people, numbering in the millions, do not have the ready means to even afford to rent anything of decent quality, and therefore are dependent upon governmental resources in regards to rent subsidies or vouchers, or for their access to public housing, or else they will end up being reduced to or left to catching what catch can, with dilapidated and undesirable housing choices, if that.
For those that truly believe that the government has already done more than enough, in regards to housing, for the most disadvantaged, then it need not change a thing; for in reality, America seems to be on a pathway of less individual ownership of housing structures, and more ownership by private enterprise, for the express purpose of those so investing in such, to make a profit, and thereby to extract more money from those that must rent their place of residence. In consideration, though, of fellow Americans, the only responsible action that this government should take, is to make a conscious choice, that a significant amount of housing stock in this nation, should best be seen as a public resource that needs to be regulated, and therefore affordable, for the very people, that do not have the individual resources to buy their own.
Any nation of any real means, that does not take care of its own people, in regards to seeing that each of its people, is backstopped by its government, so as to have fair access to food, healthcare, clean water, employment, education, and a home to live in, is a government that has failed to be a good servant and a good steward to its people. Therefore, this government, needs to stand up, and to do the right thing, by treating the housing market that it has a responsibility for, as a national utility that needs to be properly regulated, and of acceptable quality, so that those that are its most vulnerable and needful, actually, have a decent place to call home.