Regulatory arbitrage and other forms of rent-seeking will flourish.
He added that the government was now looking at incorporating other forms of tenure, including rented homes.
In short, those with power use it to insulate themselves from competitive forces by winning favorable tax treatment, government-protected market share and other forms of what economists call "rent seeking".
So what would happen if Manhattan were completely free of rent regulations and other forms of housing subsidies?
Boroughs and the GLA have that option, but why would they sell their valuable public land at a discount to a private investor when they could use it to get social rent or other forms of "affordable" homes built?
Since these comments were addressed to the career professionals at HUD, this historical faux pas potentially renders millions of Black and Brown bodies vulnerable to greater discrimination in public housing, home ownership, predatory renting and other forms of economic disinheritance.
Though available funding by no means matches the scale of the problem, the federal government's response to short-term homelessness follows a similar principle as its answer to the chronic kind: The goal is to help people either avoid eviction or at least get back into housing as quickly as possible, with rent subsidies and other forms of aid.
While the I.R.S. receives reports from employers on how much each worker makes, income from capital gains, rents, partnerships and other forms of income common to those with high incomes are not subject to the same rigorous reporting rules.
As prices continue to rise, high-cost cities will have a greater proportion of the population vulnerable to displacement and spending more of their paychecks on rent rather than savings, pensions or other forms of equity.
"Refund anticipation loans are extremely expensive, similar to payday loans, rent to own, car title pawns and other forms of fringe credit," Jean Ann Fox, the federation's director of consumer protection, said last week.
