You cannot fix housing. It is simply demand and supply.
The problem to address, which is more fixable, is to incentivize employers to move to less popular areas.
As an employee I also do not want to live in the largest metropolitan city. There is one distinct advantage of living in such a city, which is that finding new jobs is easier. But everything else just sucks, and I do not live 365 days a year looking forward to the day I need to find a new job.
"Leave your friends and family, abandon the area that you grew up in for 30 years" is not really practical advice. Maybe it works for you, but it does not for other people.
You are right about this though: it is supply and demand. And currently there is a lot of regulatory capture on the supply side. Meanwhile there are new investment vehicles on the demand side.
I don't know what the solution is, but when I watch my local news, not a week goes by that I don't see a headline about a developer trying to build some high density housing, but local residents show up to some board meeting and complain about it until they reduce the density. The reasons given make no sense. "It's not part of our community plan"... So change the plan??
Most young professionals have to leave their friends and family behind to move to the big city for their career and then live a miserable life away from the people that made their life meaningful. This is my perspective.
