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Special Briefing on Addressing the Housing Crisis: Innovative Solutions from Across America
February 19, 2026
11:00 am — 12:00 pm
Event Recap
A nationwide housing supply shortage is shaping local and state responses to mounting affordability pressures across the U.S.. For a discussion of the economic, fiscal, and policy drivers of housing affordability and the strategies states and localities are pursuing to expand housing access, Penn IUR and the Volcker Alliance convened a panel of housing finance, policy, and urban development experts for “Special Briefing on Addressing the Housing Crisis: Innovative Solutions from across America” on February 19, 2026.
William Glasgall, Penn IUR Fellow and Public Finance Adviser at the Volcker Alliance, and Susan Wachter, Co-Director of Penn IUR, co-hosted the Special Briefing. The panel included Hannah Blitzer, Housing Sector Lead, S&P Global Ratings; Eric Goldywn, Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor, Transportation and Land-Use, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University; Laurie Goodman, Institute Fellow and Founder of the Housing Finance Policy Center, The Urban Institute; and Paul Steenhausen, Principal Fiscal & Policy Analyst, California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Blitzer opened with a national overview of the housing finance landscape. “Our view is that the outlook for the housing sector is stable for 2026, and across the subsectors that we rate, we see relatively high median ratings,” she said. “HFAs [Housing Finance Agencies] have a median rating of AA, and public housing authorities have a median rating of A+.” Blitzer noted the resilience of states and localities despite concerns of federal retrenchment: “Around this time last year, there was a ton of federal funding and policy uncertainty…and it truly was a roller coaster for our housing issuers this year. Ultimately, we did not see any credit impacts as a direct result of policy changes.” She also highlighted ongoing structural pressures: “Our view is that the affordable housing sector will continue to grapple with a longstanding imbalance between limited supply and mounting demand.” With inflation outpacing wages, she warned, “we do expect the pressure on low-income households will continue to intensify.” Looking ahead, “the 30-year mortgage rate will likely be in the 5.6-5.9% range in 2026,” said Blitzer. “Ultimately, we believe that proactive management planning and financial flexibility are the key to mitigate policy and economic uncertainty for housing issuers. Historically, affordable housing issuers in our rated universe have navigated changing economic and policy environments, including COVID and the great financial crisis. We are continuing to view the sector as stable for 2026.”
Steenhausen offered a thorough assessment of housing affordability and policy reform in California, emphasizing structural pressures. “It’s no secret that California’s home prices have been higher than the national average,” he said. “Today, the average price for a mid-tier home in California is $755,000, which is 110% higher than the typical mid-tier U.S. home.” Rental costs are also elevated: “California’s typical monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $2,700, which is 40% higher than the national average. That’s more than $32,000 per year in California, just in rent,” said Steenhausen. “Incomes have not been keeping up with housing costs.” The nation’s most populous state has also grappled with homelessness: “California makes up about 12% of the overall population of the country, but accounts for about one quarter of the country's homelessness population,” said Steenhausen. A supply shortage is at the root of the state’s housing challenges: “California has been systematically underproducing new homes for decades,” he said. Steenhausen described legislative reforms aimed at increasing supply, including measures to expand accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and streamline development. Broader institutional reform is also underway, with California announcing a dedicated Housing and Homelessness Agency and ongoing progress toward consolidating fragmented and inefficient processes for financing critical development activity.
Goldywn discussed the importance of unifying transportation and housing policy as tools to catalyze development and expand housing supply. “Housing is clearly central to the affordability challenge in New York. More than 50% of New Yorkers qualify as rent-burdened, meaning that they spend more than 30% of their income on rent,” said Goldywn. “If we want to catalyze development, we have to expand the subway as we did more than 100 years ago,” citing the historical importance of transit-oriented development (TOD) in the nation’s largest city. “We want to extend the subway by 41 miles, 64 new stations, and we want to develop housing around those new stations. We estimate that this plan could catalyze more than 167,000 units of housing,” said Goldywn, noting the importance of coordinating zoning policy with transportation initiatives to maximize the impact of TOD. Goldywn emphasized the relative benefit of allocating budget resources toward expanding New York City’s subway infrastructure compared with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposal for free buses at an estimated annual cost of one billion dollars: “Are buses really part of the affordability challenge? Are people moving out of New York because they can't afford the $3 bus fare? … A large-scale subway expansion would transform New York City in a way that we haven't seen in over 100 years, and it would have a serious impact on affordability and housing.”
Goodman presented a broad assessment of the roots of housing unaffordability and policy levers to address this pervasive nationwide challenge. “Housing affordability looks terrible in a historical context,” she said. “We’re approximately where we were just before the great financial crisis…close to the 2005 peak.” Goodman quantified the burden facing households: “The average family today, buying the average house at today's interest rates, putting 3.5% down, will spend 34.7% of their income on their mortgage payments, taxes, and insurance. The average since 2000 has been 28%.” She emphasized that structural supply shortages are the primary cause: “The reason housing is so unaffordable is because we have an acute housing supply shortage, which drives up both home prices and rents.” Estimates suggest a national supply shortage between 2 million and 4 million units a year. “The supply versus demand interrelationship determines both home prices and rents,” she said. “It's important to realize that this lack of supply doesn't have one cause,” said Goodman. “It has many causes, including zoning restrictions, building codes, and the high cost of labor and materials. The cost of land has gone up much more than the cost of building over the last 15 years. This suggests that we need to build higher density.” She stressed the importance of a supply-side solution: “The solution to the affordability crisis is more supply. We have to build more.” Expanding on Steenhausen’s prior comments, Goodman highlighted California’s favorable policy for accessory dwelling units as a “playbook” for rectifying the supply-demand imbalance: “In 2024, ADUs were close to 20% of new housing units in the state of California.” As a feasible nationwide strategy, “there's much that can be done on the regulatory side in terms of making it easier to build ADUs as a matter of right,” added Goodman.
Wachter introduced the open discussion with a question from the audience: “States face various budget challenges associated with slowing revenue growth and challenges to federal funding. How should state leaders think about prioritizing funding for the housing crisis?” Blitzer responded: “Housing Finance Agencies are a great example of how states can be funneling more funding towards affordable housing.” Blitzer and Goodman concurred on the importance of HFA down payment assistance programs—not in solving the supply challenge but in expanding access for individual homeowners. “Standardization of these programs would be very, very helpful to the lending community,” said Goodman. Steenhausen shared an example: “California Dream for All is a down payment assistance for first time, first generation home buyers that's not paid back until the home is sold.” Goodman also highlighted the potential for modular and manufactured housing as nationally scalable solutions to the supply crisis. Wachter noted that resolving barriers to condominium development could be critical to expanding supply despite land cost constraints by enabling dense, multifamily development. “Condo construction is as low as it's ever been,” said Goodman, due to two main issues: developer liability and financing constraints. Importantly, resolving these challenges could open a “point of entry for homeownership,” said Goodman.
Wachter posed a second question from the audience: “What are strategies to address community resistance, that is, NIMBYism or fears of gentrification and displacement?” Goldywn responded: “If we're going to make multi-billion dollar investments in a project, you are accepting that there will be neighborhood change. Otherwise, there's no point in doing the investment.” Successful implementation of infrastructure projects while balancing positive and negative tradeoffs “takes leadership and courage at the elected level,” said Goldwyn.
Wachter closed by asking whether the affordability crisis is a national or state-specific problem. “It is national, but it's to varying degrees nationally,” said Goodman. “Areas like New York and California have always been unaffordable and have always had an affordability crisis.” She added that the crisis has been made “more acute” across the country due to widespread housing price appreciation in the years following COVID. Highlighting severe affordability gaps, Steenhausen said, “there’s only 24 units of housing available and affordable for every 100 extremely low-income households. We need to be strategic with affordable housing and how we fill in that gap.” Summarizing the consensus of the panel, Goodman concluded: “The solution to the affordability crisis is more supply. We have to build more.”
This Special Briefing was the latest in a series of 60-minute online discussions featuring distinguished guests from PennIUR and Volcker Alliance’s national research networks, along with other leading academics, economists, and federal, state, and local leaders. These convenings are made possible by funding from The Travelers Institute, members of the Penn IUR Advisory Board, and the Volcker Alliance.
Special Briefings are made possible by funding from The Travelers Institute, the Volcker Alliance, and members of the Penn IUR Advisory Board. Recordings of the entire Special Briefings series are available on the Volcker Alliance or Penn IUR websites.
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