When you have an asset with minimal elasticity in supply (such as housing in areas where building more is difficult) that is nevertheless needed for survival, owners of that asset will be able to capture most of the productive capacity of the people who need that asset. In areas with high productivity and high incomes - like around rich coastal cities - that's manifested by skyrocketing housing prices. In areas with lower productivity and lower incomes, prices still go up, but not as much, and the effect is felt as an inability to get ahead or even make ends meet even when you work hard. The wealth generated by younger laborers is transferred to older asset-owners who own the necessities of life, simply because they continue to own them.
Similarly, classical economics predicts a substitution effect for these goods: as they become increasingly less affordable, buyers will try to bypass the market entirely.
That's behind nearly all the social changes and huge tech businesses of the last two decades. Can't find a place to live? Rent in a tiny apartment instead of buying a house. Live out of a van. Move to cheaper locales while working remotely. Can't get a job because that's yet another scarce resource monopolized by an older generation? Drive people around in your car with Uber. Sublet your rental on AirBnB. Blog for advertising revenue. Sell your crafts on Etsy. Start a new service business and advertise on Facebook or Google. Take funding from YCombinator and try to start the next great marketplace.
The last couple years have brought even more radical examples, eg. Bitcoin is basically an attempt to setup a shadow financial & monetary system and opt out of the dollar-denominated economy entirely.