America’s last housing crisis was fairly complicated. Too many families bought houses they couldn’t afford, too many banks staked huge positions on housing debt, and when home sales, home prices, and on-time mortgage payments declined at the same time, the deck of cards came crashing down.

Today’s housing crisis is simpler: not enough supply. After the Great Recession, the adult population grew, but construction spending fell. In 60 years of record-keeping by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, home-building per household has never been lower.

Scarcity breeds inflation. So the predictable result of the housing crunch has been rising home prices, which have locked out young families from their piece of the American dream. The homeownership rate among late-20- and 30-somethings, which had held steady at around 50 percent since the 1970s, has plunged into the low 30s.