Pay people a living wage and a lot of problems would go away
Electricity, cars, internet, non-dirt floors, children having their own bedrooms... none of these are things my grandparents had access to.
But now you cannot even build a house like the one they grew up in--it would not meet code. Even a poor person is expected to have access to running water and electricity.
I know it's controversial, but I think there is an upward sliding of what we expect the bare minimum to be. You could easily raise a family on minimum wage if you lived like a family 100 years ago.
Why is the livable wage so high - is the problem affordable housing? How about we provide guaranteed government backed housing loans directly through a federal agency (no intermediation), and force the rate on secondary mortgages and investment mortgages up significantly making investing in real estate less appealing?
The market is already not a free one - we know this ever since the FED started bailing out corporations in the 80s. If we are already moving towards a centrally planned system, why not drop the façade and at least do it in a way that benefits the underclass as opposed to the bankers.