People move to an area and then want it to never change. High housing prices are blamed on landlords, immigrants, new construction, and speculators. Those who are comfortable with their housing have zero motivation to vote to lift zoning restrictions.
Locking property tax values makes the problem worse (e.g. California's Proposition 13).
Repealing restrictive zoning regulations doesn't require any government subsidies. Just get rid of height restrictions, parking minimums, setback, floor area ratio, single family only zoning, etc.
There is no shortage of land in this country. Why not just build out housing in areas that are actually low density, rather than forcing people to live in crammed cities with high rises everywhere?
Why do animals crowd around food sources and not spread out into the desert?
Land has little value by itself. It's proximity to jobs and services that drives lot value (and permits to build on it).
There's a spectrum of housing between high rises and single family houses. Legalizing duplexes, townhouses, condos, fourplexes, etc. would relieve a lot of the housing shortage. And if someone wants to build a high rise on a arterial street to downtown, that is a good fit. Do we want to actually fix housing shortages or do we value the "character of the neighborhood" more?
Locking property tax values makes the problem worse (e.g. California's Proposition 13).
Repealing restrictive zoning regulations doesn't require any government subsidies. Just get rid of height restrictions, parking minimums, setback, floor area ratio, single family only zoning, etc.