I have lived in rural like places that turned into pavement too. As long as nobody pauses to reframe the problem from “too few jobs” into perhaps considering it is “too many workers” then this will continue to happen. Our country is getting more crowded. At least it feels that way. When I grew up everybody we knew had houses, garages, ample yards. Now we know people with very tiny yards, condos, etc. where they often don’t even own the ground the dwelling sits on.
Once the people decided it was okay for the government to impose property taxes - nobody owned their property anymore. The government owns it and "homeowners" merely rent from the government. The government can raise the rent at will. And if the property "owner" doesn't pay what is demanded, he will be evicted - by deadly force if necessary.