It is so difficult!
Not only has not enough housing being built in the US, but we now have extreme weather events (fires, floods, hail, etc) wiping out thousands of homes (12,000 in the California fires I think) and forcing insurance companies to pull out of various regions. If you can't get insurance then you can't get a mortgage.
The problem I have with investment properties these days is that I think quality builds are rare, so either you have well-built older places that need some maintenance or you have poorly-built newer places that also need maintenance, haha, all of which cuts into your ROI. I've had an apartment drop in value because a bunch of apartment buildings went up after I bought it and the area was quickly oversupplied.
Reality in the opposite :)
The only thing US is good in manufacturing, other than military equipment, is houses. US is massively over-built relative to its population. Trouble is they are cheaply built (so easily destroyed), and built at the wrong places without paying attention to proper ethical building codes. This is what you mention as well.
Hahaha, yeah, I guess being over-built doesn't actually matter if the houses aren't built where people want to actually live. I've been in the US for 9 years or so and the prices around me in Oregon have risen so dramatically (I also blame Californians for this, haha).
California is basically imploding under its own weight. Prices over there need to drop 50% at a minimum and even then it will remain relatively expensive.
People need to leave California. In very large numbers. That is the only solution.
With water becoming more of an issue for the southern states and the west coast getting way too expensive, I expect people are going to flock to the area around the Great Lakes. I imagine it'll be safest in regards to increasing extreme weather events.
Let them go to great Lakes! No problem.
Just don't send them to Texas. That is what seems to be happening!