Despite the longstanding concept of the American Dream of a path to homeownership, the reality for countless individuals and families across the United States is an escalating struggle to find homes that are not only safe but also within their financial reach. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country had a shortage of housing units for sale or rent of 3.8 million, with the unavailability of affordable housing particularly pronounced for low-income and non-white renters. The ultimate consequence of this shortfall is that almost 600,000 Americans were chronically homeless in 2022.

The situation has become so dire that the White House announced its five-year Housing Supply Action Plan in May 2022 to unlock federal financing for affordable multifamily development and preservation, and encourage local governments to reform their zoning and land use policies to promote new residential construction.

In this lunch panel discussion, we will bring together three experts who have spent their careers working on affordable housing provision from the perspectives of housing development, local policy, community advocacy, and real estate finance and loan underwriting. Our goal through this event is to dissect the origins of the current housing affordability crisis and outline a sustainable roadmap for local and national policymakers to tackle its root causes.