The National Association of Realtors and the Rosen Consulting Group have released a new report, Housing is Critical Infrastructure: Social and Economic Benefits of Building More Housing. In it, the report outlines numerous potential solutions for both federal and local-level policymakers to consider after decades of underinvestment in housing.
According to NAR, the rate of housing production in the U.S. fell short of an estimated 5.5 million new units from 2001-2020, resulting, in part, to higher prices. The lack of supply coupled with record asking priced widens the gap between homeownership and affordability.
“The state of America’s housing stock… is dire, with a chronic shortage of affordable and available homes [needed to support] the nation’s population,” the report asserts. “A severe lack of new construction and prolonged underinvestment [have led] to an acute shortage of available housing… to the detriment of the health of the public and the economy. The scale of underbuilding and the existing demand-supply gap is enormous… and will require a major national commitment to build more housing of all types.”
More specific policy recommendations include the recommendation that lawmakers work to expand access to resources, remove barriers to and incentivize new development, and make housing construction an integral part of a national infrastructure strategy.
“A number of factors from the past 20 years are responsible for the massive housing investment gap we see in America today, but what’s important now is that we find solutions that will get us out of this crisis and provide more stability in future markets,” said NAR President Charlie Oppler, who noted adequate increases in housing construction this decade would add an estimated 2.8 million American jobs and $50 billion in new, nationwide tax revenue. “Additional public funding and policy incentives for construction will very clearly provide huge benefits to our nation’s economy, and our work to close this gap will be particularly impactful for lower-income households, households of color and millennials.”