Source: Scotsman Guide

Date Published: 06.24.2026

Link: Rental Affordability Crisis Could be Solved Within a Generation, New Report Says

Research from the NYU Urban Lab authored by Director Matthew Kwatinetz and published jointly with the National Multifamily Housing Council finds that America’s rental affordability crisis, which affects 22.4 million “rent-burdened” households (over 30% of income spent on rent) representing about half of all U.S. renters, could realistically be solved within a 17-year generation. The study identifies two distinct crises: a chronic housing undersupply that burdens even moderate-to-high income households, and a separate problem of extremely low-income households for whom no private housing will ever be affordable without subsidy. To close the gap, the toolkit recommends three coordinated strategies: boosting new supply (partly by unlocking dormant development), preserving the existing stock of roughly 14 million lower-cost units (which the report calls far more cost-effective than new affordable construction), and cutting regulatory barriers, since regulation accounts for over 40% of the cost of building a new multifamily property. NYU Urban Lab concludes that a sustained 13% increase in private-market production (enough to return output to early-1970s levels) combined with returning vacant homes to the market, could close the affordability gap within a generation, calling it a “bold but achievable goal.”