Basically everyone considers housing as a hedge - homes are expected to grow steadily in value or at the very least not depreciate.

This is not a good policy goal, but the fact is that the wealth of the American middle class is mostly stored in property, and tanking property values would be a disaster for a broad swath of society which otherwise only has long-term retirement accounts to rely on.

They will vote to protect their interests, no matter how badly it screws their kids or contributes to homelessness.