As nearly every state and many regions conduct their own versions of housing assessments, there is a fundamental paradox at the heart of the U.S. housing crisis: The shortage seems universal, but there is no shortage of development and redevelopment projects intended to address the issue. Where are these projects gaining traction? Where are things more affordable from the outset? How are some employers — much as with childcare and healthcare — going the extra mile to offer support for the talent they so desperately want to attract and retain? Are Opportunity Zones 2.0 going to help? Are we returning to the era of the company town?
Continuing work begun by Site Selection EVP Ron Starner in our Workforce 2026 publication, this installment of our housing coverage sets the stage for a series in which places employees are able to live are equal in importance to any other employer site selection factor — perhaps more so. First, an overview from the ultimate authority: the annual State of the Nation’s Housing report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS).
Released in June, the report’s topline finding was that household growth slowed for the third consecutive year in 2025, falling from an average of 2 million households in 2021 to 1.1 million in 2025. “The slowdown reflects reduced household formation among young adults amid weak labor markets, heavy student debt and intensifying economic uncertainty,” a release from Harvard stated.
“Many young adults simply cannot afford to form their own households and are instead doubling up or living with family,” said Daniel McCue, senior research associate at the JCHS.
There is also record-low mobility, the report found, falling to a rate of 11.2% in 2024. “Interstate moves have also fallen,” the Center stated, “easing population gains in fast-growing states like Texas and Florida and stemming losses in states such as California and Illinois.” Restricted immigration and increased deportations have an impact on household formation as well. “Net international migration fell by half in 2025, and is expected to drop another 75% in 2026, to roughly a third of its average level from 2001 to 2019,” the report found.
Households with low and moderate incomes are in the direst predicament. As of 2024, the report states, “11 million extremely low-income renter households were competing for just 3.8 million affordable and available units. New market-rate construction is largely out of reach for these households and often unaffordable even to median-income renters.”
“The existing stock of low-rent housing is shrinking rapidly, and private markets are incapable of producing enough deeply affordable units,” said Alexander Hermann, senior research associate at the Center. “The number of units renting for under $1,000 a month in real terms fell by more than 7 million between 2014 and 2024, while higher-rent units surged. Without significant new subsidies and stronger protections for at-risk properties, we risk losing even more of the limited affordable stock that remains.”
The JCHS said changes to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit will help finance additional units over the next decade, but more support is needed. “In response, states and localities are expanding and innovating their own tools — loosening zoning and land-use rules, issuing state housing tax credits, establishing housing trust funds, and piloting new social and green housing models,” said the report.
Movement in NYC and D.C.
Among the efforts is a new $22 billion capital investment in housing over the next five years announced by the office of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “Block by Block: The Housing Plan for a New Era” calls for the introduction of Accessory Dwelling Units, city-sponsored rezoning in the Bronx and Brooklyn, the creation of permanently affordable co-ops, and financing tools such as PACT (Permanent Affordability Commitment Together, which partners with private developers) and Public Housing Preservation Trust, which leases Housing Authority buildings to a public benefit corporation.
In a letter prefacing the plan, Mamdani wrote that the investment “will put New York City on a path to building 200,000 new affordable homes and preserving another 200,000 existing homes over the next decade — the most ambitious housing goals in our city’s modern history.”
On a national level, a refreshingly bipartisan measure called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was passed by Congress and awaits President Trump’s signature. The legislation revises federal housing programs by expanding available financing for affordable housing and providing grants for planning and community development activities. It also increases the statutory maximum loan limits for mortgage insurance programs administered by the Federal Housing Administration for multifamily homes; increases the maximum eligible income for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (grants to states and localities to support housing for low-income households); establishes a grant program to assist regional, state and local entities with strategies to support affordable housing; and exempts certain housing-related activities from the environmental review process.
In May, David M. Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC), released a statement about an earlier amended version of the measure advanced by the House: “At a time when families across the country are struggling with rising housing costs and limited supply,” he said, “passage of this legislation marks an important step toward expanding housing opportunity and improving affordability nationwide.”
The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition (AHTCC) applauded the momentum as well. “We especially appreciate a number of proposals in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that will help support affordable housing investment using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which was recently expanded and remains the primary driver of affordable housing supply in the U.S.,” said AHTCC CEO Emily Cadik. “Lifting the public welfare investment cap will unlock billions of dollars in new private investment in the Housing Credit, and additional changes in the updated House legislation will further strengthen our ability to finance more affordable housing to address our nation’s immense need.”
