Our Housing Woes Need More Than a ‘Just Build More Homes’ Strategy

07/24/2026

By Gillian Gaynair

When I was missing the longtime home I loved, but had to leave, my mother would remind me that my house was just a structure, a material thing. Bricks and wood and glass. “You can’t take it with you,” when I’m gone from this earth, she would say. 

Her perspective comforted me to an extent. And I was lucky at the time. Even as my world took an unexpected 360, I still had a roof over my head. Having that stability was critical for me as I moved forward.

Mine is a tiny example of just how fundamental having a home is to our overall well-being. Having a stable place to live that we can afford clears the brain of a major worry (where will I sleep tonight?) so we can do all the life stuff — and do it well: Hold down a job. Stay healthy. Go to school. Be present for our loved ones.

We need those structures, whether a cozy apartment in a crowded city or a sprawling house on a ton of land. But we don’t have enough of them that people can afford. That’s why the passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a good step in the right direction to addressing the dearth of housing that has plagued our country for far too long. But tackling the longstanding mismatch between housing supply and housing demand is just one ingredient in the complex mix of solutions required to truly address the availability and affordability of quality housing — as well as who gets access to it. 

New research from the Lab that we’ll be releasing in full this fall gives us a window into what Americans think about our housing crisis, particularly the affordability aspect of it. Our findings clearly show that most people (70 percent) see housing as a basic need that we, as a society, should ensure everyone can access, not a commodity to build, buy and sell for profit.

People are hungry for a range of solutions to make that possible — AND affordable. Our research shows that the public strongly supports practical approaches that go beyond building more housing (78 percent support this), and include things like providing government assistance to help pay the rent, limiting how much landlords can jack up the rent each year and converting vacant buildings into housing for people of all income levels.

A Tapestry of Solutions

As many of us doing this work already know, there is no single silver bullet for our housing crisis. Solving this persistent, behemoth problem requires a multilayered strategy. And many of our partners in the field are advancing aspects of that tapestry to increase public investments that will improve housing affordability and stability.

As the conversation around the new ROAD to Housing legislation unfolds, we need to continue reminding our audiences why putting energy and funding into other strategies, along with building more housing, is critical to ensuring that everyone has a stable place to live that they can afford. With that in mind, here are three solutions and one key message for each that our field can elevate:

Prioritize Rental Assistance: Rental assistance covers a portion of the rent so that people like our elderly neighbors on a fixed income and folks in low-paying jobs can afford to keep a roof over their heads — and cover other necessary expenses. It’s a proven strategy that allows people, especially those with very low incomes, to afford a decent place to live. But because of inadequate funding, only one in four households that need rental assistance receive it, according to our partners at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Expanding rental assistance can help bring stable housing that’s affordable within reach to people who need it most.

• Message: Rents are so high that a lot of hardworking people can’t afford it anymore. Everyone from nurses and firefighters to teachers and retail workers need support paying for housing, even though they make a decent salary. With rental assistance, people get help paying a portion of their rent so they have room to cover other expenses, like food and child care. We need to build more housing AND increase funding in rental assistance, to make home more affordable for everyone.

Invest in Supportive Housing: Our field continues to fight against a narrative that questions the efficacy of supportive housing programs. But evidence shows that providing people experiencing housing instability an affordable place to live, coupled with tailored services like job training and mental health counseling, helps them rebuild their lives. And, importantly, stay housed. National research the Lab conducted in partnership with the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) shows that Americans overwhelmingly favor this approach, in part because it delivers stability and gets people who are homeless off the street and out of encampments.

• Message: Getting people into housing that also offers support services like job training and substance and mental health treatment is a proven solution to homelessness that makes our communities safer. It’s time to shift our resources toward smart, compassionate and cost-effective approaches like supportive housing.

Expanding Tenant Protections: To keep more renters stably housed, tenants need a safe and livable home, and protections from unnecessary evictions and exorbitant rent increases. The Lab’s research revealed that 73 percent percent of Americans want to see more tenant protections for renters and policies that make sure landlords keep buildings in good shape. Meanwhile, nearly 80 percent want policy solutions that limit how much landlords can raise the rent.

• Message: We need our elected officials and community leaders to make [your city or neighborhood] a more affordable place to live by not only building new homes that people in all income brackets can afford, but implementing policies that protect tenants from evictions and limit exorbitant rent increases by landlords. We need leaders that will put housing within reach for everyone.

The ROAD to Housing Act is a start, but it’s not the finish line. By getting our messages out about other solutions, we can forge a path toward a country where everyone can find, afford and rely on the stability that home provides — especially when life starts lifing, as it did for me and as it does, at some point, for all of us.