Why doesnt Hermes just produce more bags andthen everyone can have a Birkin? Thats basicallytheargumentofpeople pressing President Donald Trump to declare ahousingemergency.Thefactistheres plentyofhousing,just not inthemost desirable neighborhoods. Population growthisslowing, deportations are increasing and new home construction already outpaces family creation.Theshortageisa myth created by activists sothey can force residential living patterns to conform toDEIdogma.A simple calculation proves it.TheCensus Bureau collects annual data on boththenumberofhouseholds andtheavailablehousingstock.Thelatestdatashows 131.3 million households and146.5millionhousingunits, an excess supplyofover 15 million units.Activists cannot denytheexcess so instead,they argue that itisnot enough.BLAME DRUGS AND MENTAL ILLNESS, NOT PRESIDENT TRUMP, FOR THE CHAOS GRIPPING OUR STREETSA well-functioninghousingmarket has a natural vacancy rate. Just as labor markets need unemployment for efficient job matching,housingmarkets need vacancies for buyer-seller alignment, renovations and seasonal use.Activists say that rate should be 12% insteadofthecurrent 10%, and to hit that target an additional 1 million units are needed. Butthey are cherry-pickingthebaseline rate. Census datatrackedsince 1965 shows vacancy rates have fluctuated wildly, ranging from 8.3% to 14.5%.Thereisno stable"natural rate."Todays 10% rate falls well within this historical range. When you stop using artificially high assumptions,theshortage disappears entirely.Perhaps anticipating this, activists also argue that demandishigher than census data shows. First,theyclaimconstruction has fallen behind historical trends, from 1.5 million units annually in 1968-2000 to 1.23 million since 2001, creating a cumulative deficit. Second,they argue for massive pent-up demand, claiming millionsofpeople would form separate households ifhousingwere cheaper, using statistical models to estimate 3-5 million"missing"households.HERE'S WHY HELPING THE HOMELESS REBUILD THEIR LIVES IS KEY TO AMERICAS FUTURE SUCCESSBoth arguments assume demographic conditions that no longer exist.Americahas transitioned from rapid population growthofover 1% annually before 2000 to a more stable0.5%today, projected to reach 0.1% by 2055.Thenext 30 years will add 23 million people versus 70 million intheprior 30 years, reflecting lower birth rates and longer lifespans. Deaths will exceed births by 2038 asthepopulation matures. Meanwhile,thecurrent administration targets deporting onemillionpeople annually, a figurenot includedin Census projections that assume stable immigration.Like Birkin bags,therealproblemisnt supply, its that people want exclusive neighborhoods, and no amountofconstruction changes thatreality. Whatsreally going on hereisthat activists are manufacturing ahousingcrisisin order to impose aDEIregime on where people choose to live.Thisisa corruptionoftheFairHousingAct (FHA), which was focused on equalityofopportunity not results.Thebill did aim to disrupt segregated living patterns but only throughthenarrow mechanismofeliminating overthousingdiscrimination. In particular, restrictive covenants, redlining and explicit racial barriers.TRUMP IS TRYING TO SAVE 100,000 AMERICAN LIVES WHILE DEMOCRATS LET CITIES SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROLAsthelegislative history records,thegoal was to ensure families could live"wherethey wishand wherethey canafford,"acknowledging that financial capacity remained a valid constraint onhousingchoice.Todays activists have abandoned that sensible framework. Instead,they want to eliminate disparities in living patterns by lowering community standards through government coercion.Their chief targetislocal zoning laws, which servetheimportant functionofmaintaining community character. Its why Washington,D.C., which bans skyscrapers, doesnt look like Manhattan.New York Citys Economic Development Corporation exemplifies this approach, scolding neighborhoods liketheUpper East Side, SoHo andtheWest Village for"restrictiveland use regulations"that limit density.They explicitly note that"Community Districts producingtheleast affordablehousingare disproportionately white."Their demographic focus revealsthetrue agenda.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONTheObama administration weaponized this logic through HUDs Affirmatively Furthering FairHousingrule, forcing towns that accepted federal funding to eliminate zoning laws and to provide detailed reports on racial demographics.Theeffort had an important political dimension. By forcing high-density, low-incomehousinginto suburban communities, activists aimed to flip red areas blue.President Trump recognizedthestakes in his first term, and tasked a White House team led by John McEntee to eliminatetherule, whichthey did in14 days. Biden reinstated it, but HUD Secretary Scott Turner wisely eliminated it again soon after takingoffice.Unfortunately, some Republicans and Libertarians have fallen forthehousingshortage hoax and still dontrealize that eliminating sensible neighborhood standards like zoning are a stalking horse for imposingDEIquotas. Thisisa problem becausehousingactivists continue to pushtheir radical agenda aggressively atthestate level.In 2021, Massachusetts passed a controversial law forcingthe177 towns alongthecommuter rail line to changetheir suburban zoning laws to permit high-density low-incomehousing.Thebill was drafted to look optional andincentive-based, butofficials areenforcingit as mandatory. Similar efforts are afoot nationwide, amplified by liberal columnists like Paul Krugman calling for"increasingpopulation density,"meaning eliminating suburban single-family zoning.Democrats have broughtDEIquotas to every institution inAmerica. Your neighborhoodisnext. Thatstherealhousingcrisis.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DANIEL HUFFPaigeBronitskyisa property attorney who served as a deputy assistant secretary at HUD and as a White House senior advisor inthefirst Trump administration. Follow @PaigeBronitsky.