America is facing a new type of housing crisis – one of affordability. In the wake of the Great Recession, a major trend has emerged as a lack of housing supply, increasing prices and stagnant wage growth are producing an affordability crunch across the income spectrum. To solve this crisis, we need ambitious, adoptable and innovative solutions. Industry leaders are starting to respond with new products aimed at an underserved and growing market. Innovations are coming from publicly held homebuilders, developers of master-planned communities, neighborhood-based real estate investors, and a new breed of entrepreneurs from other industries. A key challenge for developers, housing advocates and local officials is to address public misconceptions about the causes of the housing shortage, the impacts of new residential development and the social and economic repercussions of not having enough housing to meet demand.

On October 29, 2019, ULI Arizona brought the following national and local speakers together to tackle this increasingly visible issue: Keynote Mike Kingsella, Executive Director, Up for Growth Coalition; Tom Belshe, Deputy Director, League of Arizona Cities and Towns; Suzanne Pfister, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vitalyst Health Foundation; Justin Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Synergy Construction; and Greg Vogel, Chief Executive Officer, Land Advisors Organization; moderated by Mark Stapp, Executive Director, Master of Real Estate Program, W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University.