This Thanksgiving, millions of Americans will gather around tables filled with food, but millions of others will have no table at all. Homelessness has surged in many major American cities, even in a nation overflowing with wealth and land. The problem is not that we have run out of space, materials, or compassion. It is that we have surrounded the simple act of building homes with walls of red tape.

The homelessness crisis is, above all, a housing policy crisis. Across the country, local zoning rules, environmental reviews, and various development fees have created an artificial scarcity of housing, driving up costs and, in turn, leaving many people without shelter.

We often hear that homelessness is caused mainly by drug abuse or mental illness. To be sure, those struggles are real and

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