> Figuring out how to get people to live in already affordable places is the only way to reduce the pressure on those cities and create housing affordable and livable for average people.

... And thus a bunch of Californians moved to affordable Austin, TX and made it super expensive, driving all the native residents and average day workers out of their homes and onto the streets.

Pressure moved from one location just builds it somewhere else because people tend to congregate. You can't just say "Everyone, go move to remote places in Montana". It doesn't work like that. People congregate around the job markets, money pools, and nice locations. Hence, the coastal states in the US (centers of trade and places with beaches) have the highest population densities.