As reported in the New York Times on December 13, 2024, a journalist consulted with 25 economists, home buyers, home sellers and renters for her article entitled: “Can the U.S. climb out of its ' unprecedented' housing crisis?”

Her determinations follow.

The 2024 housing market was the slowest in decades. Next year’s might not be much better.

It may come down to how many homes can be built. The year was on track to have the slowest housing markets in decades. The last time sales dipped this low was in 1995, when the US population was 22% smaller than it is today.

Despite the lack of activity, prices kept rising because there were so few homes available. The nationwide median rent, $1,382 a month in November, was 20% higher than it was in January 2020.

Several states and cities and towns have passed legislation to spur residential development, which is crucial because most building rules are set at the local level.

This notion of scarcity — from the belief that the world is a place of dearth, in the words of the author Elizabeth Gilbert, and that there will never be enough of anything to go around is perplexing to me.

The motto of this mentality is: “Somebody else got mine.” Then we collapse into a state of resentment, jealousy and blame.

I have witnessed this sentiment on the parts of the Select Boards in both Camden and Rockport when considering vacation rentals locally.

Despite the strong opposition to regulation of vacation rentals in Rockport expressed by the residents here in their vote recently, the Select Board choose to include verbiage regarding what they call “short term rentals” in the ordinances recently put before townspeople, the wording of which ordinances seemed to me to be impossible to find prior to the vote in November 2024.

Rockport voters are owed thorough and easy access to issues regarding changes to our ordinances when presented to Rockporters as part of a townwide vote.

Marsha Steinglass lives in Rockport