Technical debt - despite its name - is not a purely technical problem
Technical debt thrives particularly well in environments with certain characteristics. Lack of experience in software development within a team and missing awareness of the importance of good, easy-to-understand code are for example strong drivers. Too much pressure to implement features fast, as well as too much bureaucracy that discourages individual initiative, are other contributors that impact a team and quickly result in technical debt.
In a nutshell, people, their skills and their cooperation within and across a team are the key factors for the build-up but also the reduction of technical debt.