Young US voters struggle with housing costs but expect little help from candidates

The difficulty young people face in paying for housing has become a political issue in competitive districts in Pennsylvania, where it may affect control of the US Congress. Many young voters point to the cost of renting or buying as a central concern, but do not expect candidates to provide an effective answer.

The United States has a housing affordability problem driven by a combination of high prices, high rents, more demanding interest rates and a shortage of supply in many areas. Part of housing policy depends on local and state governments, such as planning rules, while the federal Congress can act on financing, subsidies or public programmes.

For landlords and tenants in Spain there is no direct effect. It does, however, reflect a trend shared by many economies: expensive housing is becoming more important electorally, but policy responses tend to be slow and divided between different levels of government.