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Can I afford the rent? Will I ever be able to buy a house? These questions are top of mind for our Gen Z and Millennial kids who feel priced out of the housing market–and who may be part of the army of young adults flocking back to our previously empty nests. They may need to save on rent in order to come up with the cash for home ownership.

The housing crunch is also leading to a generational divide. WSJ and several West Coast outlets see a fight over housing in San Francisco’s Marina district as not only pitting an older generation (long-time homeowners bent on protecting their neighborhoods from new multifamily housing) against a younger one (tired of NIMBY arguments about high-rise developments marring views). It may also be a sign of political fights to come.

• In covering the contretemps over the Marina housing proposal, which calls for two high rises each around 20 stories high, the Business Insider took note of the older generation wanting to protect the look and style of its neighborhood, while the younger Gen Z and Millennials, desperate for reasonably priced housing, see the older generation as keeping them out of the housing market.
• What’s happening in the Marina District is something of a microcosm of the housing crisis across the country.
• Housing costs are the top political issue among voters aged 18 to 34, according to CNBC’s latest All-America Economic Survey. Some 50 million Gen Zs will be eligible to vote in the upcoming midterms.
• While most lawmakers are homeowners — 80 percent, by one count — the youngest politicians are often renters, like the vast majority of Americans under 35. Others still live with their parents

The issue has become urgent enough to push our youngish adults into running for office on a platform of housing affordability.

This NYT article looked at a new generation of Millennial and Gen Z politicians who are making housing costs and affordability central to their campaigns because they experience the housing squeeze personally.

• David Morales the youngest member of the Rhode Island Legislature and who is a renter, ran for mayor of Providence, RI, saying he wanted his city to be a place “where you don’t find yourself priced out when it’s time to renew your lease, a city that’s not dominated by luxury housing.”
• Manny Rutinel, who is a Democratic state legislator who is running for Congress in Colorado, has been working in the state legislature on housing affordability issues. He told the Times:. “For people like me, this is deeply personal.” I’ve “watched my own rent go up 15 percent year over year. I’ve. seen my mom choose between keeping a roof over our heads and pay for essential medical procedures. I’m running for Congress to lower costs.”
• Juliana Bennett, a 26-year-old Democrat on the City Council in Madison, Wis., who is running for State Assembly, puts the issue this way: “We can freeze the rent today, but we’ll still need 200,000 new homes tomorrow,”

All I can say is, good on them and other candidates for doing something about their plight. If they can make some changes and get affordable housing built, they could help ease the housing crisis–and move out of their parents’ formerly empty nests.

Painting: Rebecca Lemov