"Just build more homes" is indeed the obvious solution, but from my experience trying to build things in a very small (sub 4000) remote and rural town, I have witnessed some things that I think are reasons why it's not this simple.
In major cities the reason that housing isn't getting built isn't due to shortage of demand, but rather often exclusionary zoning, so "build more homes" is a good and easy solution here. In contrast, in small towns it's less zoning and more often that buildings aren't profitable and viable to build.
I think many of these towns are stuck in a situation of low vacancy and shortage of housing, while also at the same time not being a positive environment for real investment in creating new housing. As the costs of construction continue to spike and interest rates have risen it has only become worse.
These are towns where there can often literally be no trades, no plumbers, nothing. So everything must be brought in at great expense.
So what happens here is that because construction is so expensive and difficult, the low hanging fruit of buying something existing and renovating is dramatically more appealing and so that is the only real housing investment we see.
Stricter Airbnb regulations could create more balance and force housing investment into building hotels and new homes.
Other than that I'm not really sure I see a solution other than some government incentives or direct action in creating more housing for regular people in places where housing is needed but is rarely profitable to create.