Car centric design is definately an issue. There's an open mall near my place, and even during peak hours more than half of the parking lot is empty, two thirds more often than not.

Even then, I think the zoning laws and related regulations are far worse. I mean, every plot should allow for townhouses. Most are little bigger than existing houses from the front, but fit four or more families in the same plot. If even a third of single residential plots were replaced with townhouses, we wouldn't even have a housing crisis in the first place.

Though the biggest reason why there's a housing crisis is because people are allowed to treat housing like an investment, not a necessity. Imagine if you could invest in a loaf of bread. There'd be lobbies to mandate that all bakeries reduce output so that a loaf would cost $50 each and out of the hands of young people and low income earners.