What was “meant” to be the case for an economic policy is quite besides the point. If wages don’t keep pace with the rise in housing prices, upward mobility for low wage workers decreases. They rely more on public services. The have poorer health outcomes. This has real consequences for the economy overall.

Dismissing this concern with “it wasn’t meant to do that” is a little like seeing a man with a bandaid over a gaping axe wound and saying, “well, sucks for him — but that bandaid wasn’t meant to stop that much blood.”