Subsidize Supply Not Demand
I am no economist but this seems like the way to go tbh. Most problems in the world are scarcity-constrained, but especially housing, so I will use it as the example. Everyone wants in live in San Francisco or New York but these cities are not able to keep up with demand which translates to rents being ridiculous.
At this point you can either:
- Subsidize supply by building more houses directly or via building grants, tax credits, and cheap construction loans,
- Subsidize demand by giving people money via housing vouchers, rental assistance, and rent control
It is basically a question of whether you use money to make more stuff or give people money in order to afford the same amount of stuff.
The problem is that for scarcity-constrained problems the root of the issue is that there isn't enough of the scarce resource. That problem is fundamentally not solved unless you create more. So even if you subsidize demand like crazy, because the amount of supply is the same, everyone having more money just means more inflated prices.