The Big Lie We Keep Telling Ourselves

“Affordable housing” has become one of the most common phrases in American politics. It’s plastered on campaign posters, built into state budgets, and dropped into every discussion about homelessness and poverty. And while it sounds good—who wouldn’t support more affordable homes?—the reality is, it’s a myth. Not because people don’t need it. But because the way we talk about it—and the way we try to build it—ignores basic economics.

After years of studying this issue and working on solutions through Joshua’s, I’ve come to a hard truth: there’s no such thing as sustainable, scalable affordable housing in high-cost markets like California without serious economic reform. Until we’re honest about that, we’re going to keep spinning our wheels, spending too much, and solving too little.

When “Affordable” Isn’t Actually Affordable

Let’s look at what’s really happening. In California, the average cost to build a single “affordable” housing unit is between $600,000 and $800,000. Let that sink in. That’s more than many middle-class families can spend on a home. And yet we’re using public dollars to build units at this price point and calling it a solution for the poor.

Worse, once those units are built, they typically house just one individual or a small family—meaning the cost per person is astronomical. If we keep moving at this pace, using this model, we’ll never even make a dent in the demand. It’s a losing battle from both a fiscal and logistical standpoint.

The problem is that we’re trying to solve a housing crisis without fixing the deeper economic system that caused it—runaway costs, zoning restrictions, and a refusal to rethink outdated urban policies.

The Economics Don’t Work—And Everyone Knows It

Ask any developer in a major city, and they’ll tell you: building housing is expensive, slow, and filled with red tape. Permitting delays, labor costs, land values, and strict zoning laws all add layers of expense. And even when government subsidies are available, the process of securing them is so slow and complicated that many builders simply walk away.

So what happens? We build a handful of “affordable” units at a price tag that makes no economic sense, then pat ourselves on the back while tens of thousands of people remain unhoused or stuck in shelters. It’s a feel-good illusion—not a strategy.

If this same level of inefficiency happened in the private sector, we’d tear the model apart and start over. And that’s exactly what we’ve done at Joshua’s.

Rethinking the Model from the Ground Up

At Joshua’s, we looked at this problem differently. Instead of trying to build a new unit for every person in need, we asked: how can we reverse-engineer a housing solution that people can actually afford and that taxpayers can actually fund?

That led us to a shared housing model using existing properties in lower-cost markets—places where homes are available, land is cheaper, and the path to self-sufficiency is more realistic. We’re not building tiny homes on expensive city lots. We’re offering real homes in real neighborhoods where people can live with dignity and stability.

But here’s the key: we pair that housing with recovery services, job training, and income-building tools. Because affordable housing isn’t just about the rent—it’s about the person’s ability to earn, save, and grow. If someone has no income and no skills, no rent is truly affordable. The only way out is through economic empowerment.

Affordability Requires Opportunity

The people we serve at Joshua’s aren’t just unhoused—they’re underemployed, often dealing with addiction, and facing steep barriers to entry into the workforce. You can hand them a key to an apartment, but if they don’t have the tools to support themselves, it’s just a matter of time before they’re back on the street.

That’s why we believe real housing reform has to be tied to economic reform. That means creating programs that offer not just shelter, but a path to employment. It means supporting small businesses that are willing to hire people in recovery. It means removing the stigma that keeps people locked out of opportunity, and replacing it with systems that build people up.

Until we address those things, we’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. We might make the situation look better for a moment, but we’re not changing the direction of the ship.

Time for a Reality Check

I’ve spent enough time in boardrooms to know that good intentions aren’t enough. You need numbers. You need scale. And you need models that can grow without collapsing under their own weight. The current “affordable housing” system doesn’t pass that test. It’s bloated, slow, and ineffective.

It’s time for leaders—both public and private—to stop selling the fantasy that we can solve homelessness with overpriced construction projects. We need to focus on strategies that create real pathways out of poverty. That means rethinking where we build, how we build, and most importantly, who we’re building for.

At Joshua’s, we’re showing that it’s possible. Not easy, but possible. By relocating participants to more sustainable markets, supporting them through recovery, and placing them into shared housing environments that they can actually afford, we’re cutting costs and improving outcomes. And we’re doing it for less than half of what most cities spend per person, per year, just to keep people cycling through temporary shelters and emergency rooms.

The Way Forward

The housing crisis won’t be solved overnight. But it also won’t be solved by continuing down the same expensive, ineffective path. If we want to create real solutions, we need to start with honesty. And the honest truth is this: housing can’t be affordable unless the entire system—land use, labor, income opportunity, and public policy—gets a reset.

We can’t just build our way out. We have to think our way out.

And that’s what we’re committed to doing at Joshua’s. Because people deserve more than a buzzword. They deserve a future. And we believe it starts with a home they can actually keep—and a life they can actually build.