There are some items that are essential enough where society has determined the market is not the appropriate mechanism to manage supply and demand. Not how we regulate clean air/water supply rather than leave it up to the market and how citizens in some areas have rejected claims by corporations to market previously free resources.

There are some who would say housing falls into this "essential" category and thus should not be entirely a free-market (I'm not sure I'm one of them, but think it's important to acknowledge the position in good faith).