Collaboration is the key to solving the workforce housing crisis

Contrary to popular belief, the United States isn’t dealing with an affordable housing problem.

It’s dealing with an affordable housing crisis.

The distinction is important, as are the facts surrounding the dilemma. To begin, the U.S. needs five million more homes than it currently has. And even those who have homes are struggling, as 40% of renters are cost-burdened, while housing prices are rising faster than wage growth in 80% of U.S. markets.

These issues collectively form the crux of America’s workforce housing crisis, which was the topic of a presentation that we recently gave to the Wisconsin Economic Development corporation. The combination of Don’s housing development knowledge and Jolena’s public sector specialization offered a unique perspective on the issue and the path toward a potential solution.

People may disagree about what that path looks like, but we all agree that it needs to revolve around collaboration. The federal government, state governments, local jurisdictions, the private sector, not-for-profit organizations – there is plenty of opportunity to work together to manage the housing crisis. Yet, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. There is no federal workforce housing program that governs the entire nation. So, collaboration between the housing industry and all levels of government remains the key to determining a tailored solution to the housing emergency facing each individual community.

Examining a critical connection

One of the most important points as it relates to this topic is that there is a clear connection between the workforce housing crisis and local economic development. Understanding the relationship between the two is key toward ultimately coming up with a resolution.

At a high level, cities need affordable, available housing in order to entice workers to come to their community in the first place. A city can have hundreds of schools, daycares, entertainment complexes and restaurants, but if the workers have nowhere to live nearby – particularly the blue-collar workers – then there will always be a workforce shortage. And taking another step back, it isn’t easy to construct buildings and facilities in the first place if there is no affordable housing nearby for the construction employees and other trade workers who are pivotal to the completion of these projects.

In short, if communities do not have sufficient housing for their workforce, then it will always be difficult to develop critical construction projects and, therefore, it will be challenging to achieve economic growth.