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Comment by robcohen

8 months ago

As workers become more productive and earn higher wages in a given area, landowners can charge higher rents since workers must live within commuting distance of their jobs and land in desirable locations is inherently limited. The fixed supply of well-located land means that increased worker earnings create more competition for housing near job centers, allowing landowners to continually raise rents and capture much of the economic gains that would otherwise go to workers. This dynamic is especially pronounced in cities with strict zoning laws or other constraints on housing supply, as workers are forced to bid against each other for access to a relatively fixed stock of housing near employment centers.

Change the tax policy to one with a Georgist bent and this issue should be rectified.

This is basically it. Rent scales with average income in a location, so no matter how wealthy a society is, the struggle to pay the most basic living expense (shelter) will always remain. You can't escape the rat race without owning property or earning above average income.