In general the “housing is too expensive” people mean “I looked at every available house in both San Francisco and New York City, and didn’t find anything cheap!”

When picking a city, pick two:

-Good job market

-Not high cost of living

-Good quality of life (commute, amenities, etc.)

Many industries are concentrated in high cost of living cities or very high cost of living cities. Not everyone is a nurse who can work anywhere. Big cities generally have bigger salaries.

such annoying pedantry to point out that "akshually houses are cheap in southern missouri"

I mean, sure. but then there are 0 jobs and 0 community.

the housing shortage is a shortage of housing in the same places that there is industry and opportunity. the fact that there are ample plots of land upon which one could theoretically erect a tent is irrelevant

That's what it feels like to me. Hey I checked all the houses in a jet set fart sniffing town and there's nothing!