Hello all!
I have a few thoughts on the housing issues that we are all experiencing. One thing that has bothered me about FFXIV is how actually empty housing districts really are. There are some really amazing rp locations in the housing districts that get next to no use. Walking through any given housing district you see a few fc's hanging around their respective fc homes, but other than that there isn't a whole lot going on in these areas.

I'm not going to get into the houses that are still present when the owner clearly hasn't played in a very long time. That is simply a byproduct of the somewhat failed housing system that is currently in place.

Instead, I would rather give suggestions on where we could go from here.
I am not a game developer, and I feel like that is extremely important to make clear. I do not claim to know better/more than any of the awesome devs that have built this game into what it is today. I want to apologize ahead of time if my suggestions/thoughts are not possible or are more serious changes than what my brain is thinking.

Instancing housing.
This could be done with a "Gatekeeper" NPC, as this is an asset already in game. The dialog could read "Ah adventurer! Would you like me to escort you to your home?"
This option could be the very thing that solves the housing crisis we are currently experiencing. When teleported to your private/public plot, my thought would be seeing the housing district in your background with houses and shops that are all of the same decoration for that district. I.e. Lavender Beds backdrop would have the different wooden buildings and flowers that we currently see in the district.
You wouldn't be able to see other player's homes when in your instanced private plot.

Instancing housing wouldn't be the end of being able to visit other player's homes. You would be able to choose, as you can now, allowing other players to enter your home. This would however be the end of having to look at someone else's designs, that might not line up with your own.

Venues could be set up to allow a certain number of people in to keep the memory down. This could even be taken a step further with "invitations" as a "key" to a venue/party, helping with immersion.

Where does this leave the current housing districts? Shopping District! These places could get furnished with minigames and shops. Adding walking NPCs to bring life into the "Shopping District" as well as adding pointed lighting in RP areas.

Changing the housing system to an instanced system would allow for anyone to own a house. This could deter RMTers from creating artificial scarcity.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing other opinions!