My parents and grandparents were decidedly blue-collar and new middle class from the late 60's to mid 90's, and my grandfather, a mechanic, bought a new home on the Los Gatos border using the GI bill. It requires an income of about 600k USD to afford to buy housing where I grew up. I'm basically solid lower class in the southwest corner of the Texas Triangle now.

The main problems, as I see them, are the protectionist limitations on new supply, unfair importation of immense overseas' and out-of-state wealthy individuals' wealth causing gentrification, and the absurd inequality of wages into extreme power law distribution by the cheapening and decline of labor due to under-restrained capitalism.