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Social and Economic Benefits of Building More Housing The underbuilding gap in the U.S. totaled more than 5.5 million housing units in the last 20 years. By The National Association of Realtors® and Rosen Consulting Group
Housing Is Critical Infrastructure The infrastructure that forms the backbone of the American economy has fallen into disrepair, exacerbating a wide range of short- and longerterm social and economic challenges. Following decades of underbuilding and underinvestment, the state of our national housing stock, which is among the most critical pieces of that infrastructure, is dire, with a chronic shortage of affordable and available homes to house the nation’s population. The Department of Homeland Security defines critical infrastructure as: “the physical and cyber systems and assets that are so vital to the United States that their incapacity or destruction would
18 | Salt Lake Realtor ® | July 2021
have a debilitating impact on our physical or economic security or public health or safety. The nation’s critical infrastructure provides the essential services that underpin American society.” Our nation’s housing, both affordable and market-rate, public and private, clearly fits this definition, providing for one of the most fundamental of essential services for our people. Moreover, beyond the essential need for shelter, few things are as central to American society and the American Dream as housing and the opportunity to pursue the path of homeownership, especially for those middleclass workers who form the core of the creative and productive American labor force. (continued on page 22)
