Category: Commentary
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Commentary: Housing Production Lags, Why This Matters
Recently, Housing Affordability Institute released the latest edition of its United States of Housing annual report, looking at the state of the housing market in 2025. The feature story looked at America’s declining housing production. Since 2021, when housing permits had their post-Great Financial Crisis peak, total permits in the U.S. have fallen 18%. While…
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Featured in HousingWire: The Case for Reforming America’s Building Codes
ICYMI: In a new HousingWire op-ed, Housing Affordability Institute Executive Director Nick Erickson outlines building code reforms.
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Commentary: Homeownership Month Is a Reminder of What’s at Stake
At Housing Affordability Institute, Homeownership Month is reminder of our mission to provide policy solutions to advance homeownership.
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Commentary: The Case for Smarter Building Codes
What goes where will always take precedence, but after the primary barriers to housing are addressed, how we build becomes more important.
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Commentary: New Homes are the Solution; Why Do We Treat Them as the Problem?
There is a difference between finding an answer and finding the solution; this difference often lies in properly framing the question.
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Commentary: Declining Permits, Rates, and the Need for Evergreen Affordability
While the “rate shock” period is not yet over, one thing is clear: We need housing policies to foster an environment where affordability is an evergreen value.
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Commentary: Housing Reform in an Age of Closed Minds
Housing reform may be one of the last vestiges of bipartisanship in America, but that doesn’t mean it’s immune from partisanship and entrenchement in a broader, nontraditional sense.
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Commentary: Prices rise; homeownership declines. Now what?
Back in 2018, Minnesota was facing a 50,000-unit housing shortage, a deficit already fueling rising prices and limiting options for first-time buyers. The State of Minnesota’s Task Force on Housing set the audacious goal of closing the deficit within five years. Getting there would not be easy and would require a restructuring of Minnesota’s housing…
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As Homeownership’s Delay Reaches Middle Age, The Need for Action Grows More Urgent
The American dream of homeownership is now a middle-aged ideal, literally. This week, the National Association of Realtors shared that the average age of a first-time homebuyer in the U.S. has climbed to 40, the oldest on record. Just a decade ago, that figure was around 31. In ten short years, we’ve lost nearly a full…
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Commentary: Why Bipartisan Support and Executive Leadership Matter in Housing Reform
The secret to success lies in the unity between lawmakers and governors.
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Commentary: Sheetz and Impact Fees, One Year Later
One year later, the Sheetz v. El Dorado ruling is a game changer for housing affordability, the true impact of which has yet to be tested.
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Commentary: 2024 Was an Impactful Year, Could 2025 Be Even Bigger?
As we wrap up 2024, it’s clear that housing policy has remained a central issue, shaping conversations from city councils to presidential debates.