We seem to have a housing theme going this week. Let’s keep it going.

Paul Krugman notes that that the Sunbelt and Atlantic have seen big population and business growth. Part of their growth may be pro-business and pro-rich policies, but he thinks the biggest factor that explains their success is the cheaper housing. Zoning laws are halting denser and taller buildings in California and the Northeast, so there is very little new construction. Existing homes grow more and more expensive. So, working class and middle class young families are relocating, even taking pay cuts, so they can get cheap, large homes with granite counter tops.

Krugman says that we can encourage growth by reducing regulations on housing.

And this, in turn, means that the growth of the Sunbelt isn’t the kind of success story conservatives would have us believe. Yes, Americans are moving to places like Texas, but, in a fundamental sense, they’re moving the wrong way, leaving local economies where their productivity is high for destinations where it’s lower. And the way to make the country richer is to encourage them to move back, by making housing in dense, high-wage metropolitan areas more affordable.

People are finding cheaper housing within metropolitan areas by continually gentrifying and dealing with looonnnnggg commutes, but it is simply not possible to create the amount of cheap housing that is available in Atlanta around here. There’s not enough space. Older infrastructure. Politically, it is a non-starter, because no voter wants to see their housing values go down. What to do?