One of the buzziest books in America right now is Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s bestseller on why our failure to build enough homes has contributed to soaring costs and needless political strife. And one of the most provocative movements in politics these days is pronatalism — a coalition sounding the alarm on people not having enough babies. Pronatalists are gaining power in the White House (Donald Trump recently dubbed himself the “fertilization president”) and the movement just wrapped up its second annual US convention in Austin, Texas.

As housing supply and birth rates have become twin focal points in America’s policy conversation, a growing number of wonks are drawing connections between these two, arguing that expanding housing supply wouldn’t just ease affordability — it could also help boost fertility.

The Institute for Family Studies — a think tank that launched its own pronatalism division last summer — recently published a report making this case, revealing how housing costs have become crushing for young adults. The median home now costs nine years of a young person’s income, up from five years in 1969. Homeownership rates for Americans under 35 have collapsed from 50 percent to around 30 percent since 1980.

Many of these young adults........

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