Sunak and Biden Are Making the Same Mistake on Housing
Both the UK prime minister and the US president are planning to give people money when they should be working harder to expand supply.
Sunak needs to think bigger.
Photographer: Peter Cziborra-WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joseph Biden are both promoting the same kind of mistake: giving people money when they should instead be working harder to expand supply. In both cases, the mistake is being made in the housing market, a longstanding venue for counterproductive policy ideas.
Last week’s Conservative Party manifesto does have one good idea for housing, namely a pledge to build 1.6 million additional units over the next five years. That would lower rents and home prices, and enable British businesses to expand with greater ease, since potential employees could more easily cope with high housing costs. At the same time, it’s worth remembering that the party made a comparable pledge in 2019 and failed to deliver.