> One could argue, as many have, that some of this increase in housing cost is offset by decreased costs in other expenditures such as food or technology.

A Georgist perspective on this would be that it's the decreased costs in other goods and services which have (partially) contributed to the increased cost in housing, as any increase in disposable income allows you to bid up the price of land. Not everyone does, but enough do so that it has this overall effect, and the effect is stronger where housing supply is already limited.