Ben Carson and HUD Get Ready to Take On the Nimbys

According to official statistics, Americans have been getting slowly richer since 1980. Real median personal income growth slowed in the 2000s and took a big hit in the Great Recession, but has now recovered and is at an all-time high. But this number is calculated by measuring income relative to a broad range of consumer goods. If you look just at rent — the biggest item on most people’s monthly budget — it turns out that median income hasn’t been keeping pace since the turn of the century:

To the typical American, being able to afford more cars and smartphones and Netflix subscriptions might be cold comfort given the increasing difficulty of paying for housing. The security of knowing that you’ll be able to keep a roof over your head is one of humanity’s most basic physical and psychological needs, and right now the U.S. economy isn’t meeting that need as well as it used to.