By Austin Walker
Headlines involving affordable housing are often demoralizing, and for good reason. Keeping a roof over one’s head can be a complex problem with no easy answers, especially if your earnings are not at the upper end of the median. Most policymakers I meet genuinely want to help their constituents, but finding the right political and economic resources to do so can be challenging because the tools to create or preserve affordable housing can depend on a variety of policies, which typically are designed to meet the goals of a range of stakeholders. In other words, there are a lot of moving parts at work here.
The housing situation in the United States is very complex, no matter what kind of hat you wear: builder, developer, legislator, banker, financial partner. But those of us who are working on this issue every day have a clearer perspective, and we remain bullish on the outlook, largely because we see various pathways through the clutter.
A Sense of Urgency is Needed
It’s true that the word “crisis” gets thrown around a lot by pundits and editors. But without continuing to search for solutions and to reach compromise on a case-by-case or state-by-state basis, we will be facing a significant social problem very soon. So we need to be tackling this more as a “now” issue, and less as a long-term discussion. As median rents rise disproportionately to median incomes, we may be looking at a very complicated landscape indeed.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, only 35 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. A June 2025 report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies found that last year, monthly mortgage payments on median-priced homes climbed to $2,570, a number that is 40 percent higher than it was in 1990 and a figure that prices out most of the population who falls at or below the median income line.
Meanwhile, as more people can’t afford to buy homes, the demand for rental properties continues to rise. As we see most new construction happening at the upper end of the market, the middle and low end are getting squeezed in the middle of a dubious equation: growing need and less new inventory.
While some might call this a “crisis,” there are others who would be justified in describing it as a national emergency. Which is why we need to focus more on solutions. And yes, they are out there.
In two years, my firm has scaled up to a nearly half a billion dollars in affordable and workforce housing development pipeline. We closed on construction financing for a 100 percent, non-subsidized affordable housing project in Los Angeles last week, and in Newark, New Jersey, we’re a co-developing a $200 million transformative project that will serve as an anchor for the city’s revitalization. The Newark project combined $90 million in state subsidies with several creative local partnerships. We’ve had similar successes in Illinois, Georgia, Maryland and Texas.
Block Out the Negative Noise
There is regulatory momentum that supports both the production and preservation of affordable multifamily housing. Right now, there are 24 states that have enacted legislation to support developers and passed tax abatement laws. The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, which was debated heavily in the media, has made it easier for builders and developers to consider the affordable multifamily route.
For instance, OBBBA makes it easier for builders to take advantage of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). The private activity bond financing threshold has been reduced from 50 percent to 25 percent for 4 percent LIHTC projects. There has also been a permanent increase of the 9 percent LIHTC allocation to 12 percent, and a re-examination of “low-income” designations relative to area median income. These and other provisions will take effect in 2026 and Novogradac estimates that these measures will directly lead to the production of more than 1.2 million units.
Consistency is Key
As we can see, there are significant opportunities to create more affordable housing across the country. However, leaders and policies at the state and local levels change frequently, and once-grandfathered policies tend to be re-debated and re-evaluated on an almost yearly basis. This creates a constant cycle of renegotiation and in many cases, can compromise opportunities in certain communities. Politicization of certain contracts and previous deals made with banks and private lenders can lead to a long, slow cycle of divestment, which has long-term consequences on the community and surrounding areas.
Communities and their residents are far better served by knowing that when a policy is in place —irrespective of which party signed the deal, or under what circumstances — they can rely on it when the next elected officials come into the state or local houses. Each administration will have its identity and can have their say on local housing without disrupting policies that may already be providing critical services and creating community growth.
Forging Alliances is Important
Collaboration is the most important aspect of every success story. No single developer, no individual builder, no local government and certainly no financing institution can tackle affordable housing alone. It takes compromise, commitment and a bit of creativity.
Last year, Columbia, Missouri, released an outstanding study that examined the housing crisis and two dozen headwinds that homeowners and renters are facing. It explicitly illustrates that where communities often fall short is that too often, there isn’t enough collaboration between the city, county, developers, nonprofits and residents. The report stated that there is a “need for more public-private partnerships and leadership in spearheading housing initiatives.”
In other words, it takes a village to build a village.
Austin Walker is the CEO of A. Walker & Company, a New York City-based real estate fund manager that delivers customized equity solutions for small and middle-market multifamily and affordable housing transactions.