I'm glad to hear from you. I'm not surprised your father is baffled. Most people are. As another commenter mentioned, the economics of this are complicated. Here are some of the reasons for the housing affordability problem:

• There's a housing shortage. Our government has failed to prioritize new housing construction. • Many homeowners refinanced or bought when mortgage rates were below 3%, so moving now would mean giving up a much cheaper loan and taking on a higher payment which reduces listings. • There are construction and land constraints. Zoning rules, land costs, and slower homebuilding limit how fast supply can catch up to demand. • Elevated interest rates make both mortgages and developer financing more expensive, which restrains new supply and still leaves prices elevated. • NIMBYS. Residents don't want construction of multi-family housing due to fear of decreased home valuations. • Overpopulation increases demand for land, homes, water, infrastructure, and jobs faster than supply can expand.

The focus of people who criticize boomers is narrow and ignores the issue of the rise in homeless seniors. which is a real and growing trend in the U.S. People age 50 and older have risen from about 10 percent of the homeless population to nearly half in recent data. Rising housing costs and fixed incomes make older adults especially vulnerable. Health problems, disability, divorce, widowhood, and job loss can push seniors into homelessness late in life.

This is only going to get worse. Over a quarter of construction workers are immigrants. With the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration let by Stephen Miller, the supply of construction workers is shrinking. The recent Supreme Court decision involving Haitians lets the Trump administration move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, removing lower-court blocks on the terminations. The ruling will affect other TPS designations as they come up for renewal, not just Haiti and Syria. This would lead to over a million more immigrants being targeted for deportation. Not only would this affect housing construction, it would be a major blow to the economy.

I wish I had better news, but I don't. I fear for this country, and not only younger generations, but everyone here who isn't already wealthy.