The explosive appreciation in housing prices from the late 1990s to the mid2000s created significant wealth for people fortunate enough to own their own home. In many markets, double-digit appreciation year after year created home equity that homeowners tapped to pay off other debt, remodel their homes, take vacations, and buy new cars. By the mid-2000s, housing price appreciation had slowed to more traditional rates, but home prices remained quite high in most markets. Over the same period, incomes were stagnant, taking median-price housing out of the range of median-income households. Several other factors combined to create what could be described as an affordable housing crisis in many regions of the country. First, resources for the support of affordable housing became more limited with the continuing decentralization of federal housing programs to the states. Secondly, many affordable housing units were lost to expiring uses (the conversion of subsidized developments to market-rate housing), the conversion of affordable rental developments to condominiums, and demolition. The growing local community opposition to any new development has also played a role in that it tends to focus particularly on multifamily housing, which can be more affordable than single-family housing, and on affordable housing developments with public subsidies.