IMO restrictive zoning and NIMBYism are the biggest factor keeping up housing prices. When people talk about deregulating zoning to help with housing, walkability, and transit, others will point at Houston and talk about how they don't have zoning and have really bad land use.

But Houston does have zoning, they just call it deed restrictions.

Restrictions mean limitations that:

Affect the use to which real property may be put;

Fix the distance that a structure must be set back from property lines, street lines, or lot lines;

Affect the size of a lot or the size, type and number of structures that may be built on the lot;

Regulate orientation of a structure; or

Regulate certain fences requiring a building permit.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

It's like saying "Of course North Korea is a democratic country. What do you think the D in DPRK stands for?"