Tackling America’s Housing Crisis with Mercatus Center’s Salim Furth

Top of Mind

In this episode of the Top of Mind podcast, Mike Simonsen sits down with Salim Furth from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University to explore America’s housing affordability and supply crisis and the optimistic changes that are under way.

About Salim Furth

Salim Furth is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. His research focuses on housing production and land use regulation. He frequently advises local governments and testifies before state and federal legislatures. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Rochester.

Furth previously worked at the Heritage Foundation, at Amherst College, and as a contractor to HUD. His research has been published in Housing Policy Debate, Critical Housing Analysis, and the IZA Journal of Labor Policy. He serves as an advisor to the board of Texans for Reasonable Solutions and a Better Cities Project Fellow.served as lead independent trustee and eventually board chairman overseeing a multibillion-dollar ETF trust until its sale in early 2024.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• Why an esoteric domain like housing policy and zoning is suddenly in the spotlight in the US
• What the “Housing Theory of Everything” is and why it’s important
• Why the housing shortage isn’t confined to the United States and which countries are tackling it
• Why NIMBYism is a universal human (or at least Anglophile) value
• The shocking extent of our under-construction
• Which simple zoning and regulation changes are making impact around the country
• Which cities and states are doing the best work in housing
• Whether increased immigration helps or hurts housing affordability
• Which tax law changes are most effective
• What will happen if the population declines
• The optimistic and pessimistic scenarios for residential real estate, affordability and supply in the longer term future
• Conclusions and insights from his recent “Laying Foundations” paper about the 50 most recent legislative efforts around the country

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Salim Furth | LinkedIn
• Salim Furth | X
• Mercatus Center
• Salim Furth | Mercatus Center
• Mike Simonsen | LinkedIn
• Altos Research

Featuring Mike Simonsen, President of Altos Research

A true data geek, Mike founded Altos Research in 2006 to bring data and insight on the U.S. housing market to those who need it most. The company now serves the largest Wall Street investment firms, banks, and tens of thousands of real estate professionals around the country. Mike's insights on the market have been featured in Forbes, New York Times, Bloomberg, Dallas Morning News, Seattle PI, and many other national media outlets.

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About Altos Research

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