> I think it is a fallacy (one often made by supporters of democracy) to believe that 90% of people want X, with X being the thing the government refuses to do....

No, no, it's not that 90% of people want more housing. It's that we'd have a form of government where, unless 90% of people want to prevent more housing, anybody can go build more housing. You'd need 90% support to pass a law (e.g. zoning regulations), 10% support to repeal it.

So you get all the laws everyone can agree on and none of the ones they can't.