Here in the UK, if you are willing to accept a commute and downgrade your expectations slightly, you can buy an affordable house or apartment relatively easily. Even commutable to London you could buy say a 1-2 bedroom apartment for £200k, which is achievable for 1 good earner or 2 average earners.
The problem is that people want nice big houses in the best areas of global cities. I understand the aspiration, but that is not a housing crisis. It's just a market.
I acknowledge problems for low earners in low wage areas etc, but maybe I am referring to a different type of person, say young professionals wanting to get on the housing ladder or needing somewhere to live that is commutable to work. I think that too often they just have expectations out of line with their budgets.
What you see on this forum is people complaining that housing in SF/LA/NYC is not cheap. However, in your case, I think you have a point.