Published
December 22, 2025
Housing affordability is straining families, employers, and local economies nationwide. The business community knows we need actionable, locally tailored solutions, not one-size-fits-all approaches. That’s why the U.S. Chamber is equipping communities and leaders with a powerful new data resource to drive smart housing reforms across America.
This fall, the U.S. Chamber introduced a new resource in partnership with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Housing Center aimed at addressing these housing challenges. The “Strong Foundations” playbook offers data-informed solutions for all 50 states including 500 metropolitan areas, 1,000 counties and 4,500 cities.
Each playbook provides location-specific data on housing supply, affordability, migration patterns, job growth vs. construction trends, and displacement homelessness data. These playbooks will help leaders connect data to action and identify opportunities to expand housing and strengthen economic resilience.
Learn About the Playbook:
During the U.S. Chamber’s November Housing Summit, Tobias Peter, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute and Co-Director, AEI Housing Center, Arthur Gailes, Research Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and Duke McLarty, Executive Director, Groundwork Workforce Housing for NWA, discussed the data-driven solutions to the housing shortage gleaned from the playbook research.
“We found that healthy supply solutions are possible, and what works in San Francisco is obviously very different than what works in St. Paul, Minnesota,” said Peters.
Key strategies from the datasets include allowing lot size flexibility in new residential subdivisions, increasing lot flexibility in existing units, identifying suitable land for development, and promoting best practices for zoning and building regulations.
Peters said the goal of the project was to turn data into policy action to address the estimated 6.5-million-unit housing shortage.
“What we found in the report is that there’s a huge shortage according to the most critical estimates,” he said. “The biggest shortage is really among the millennial generation.”
Both Peter and Gailes said new housing developments can benefit communities through increased property tax revenue and more efficient infrastructure spending.
“New homes built through market means, by definition, bring more revenue into the cities they’re located in through property taxes,” Gailes said. “The city gets revenue from new density that is being built on these lands and that helps offset the costs of families coming in.”
The business community has a critical role to play in advocating for housing solutions. A strong and affordable housing market is fundamental to supporting employers and ensuring prosperity.
“The most important thing the business community can do here is just show up to city council meetings, talk to the local newspapers to be interviewed and be present because there’s a double coincidence here,” Gailes said. “The needs of employees and the needs of employers, in this case, are lining up in the same direction.”
Local chambers are uniquely positioned to advance housing policy discussions in communities. The speakers emphasized the role of local chambers as advocates, presenting data-driven housing solutions to officials and highlighting housing challenges' impact on business growth.
“There’s a unique perspective that U.S. Chamber and local chambers can bring that have been missing from the [housing] conversation.” McLarty said. “I think when a local chamber, CEO or president goes in and talks to the mayor, being armed with some of the data in here to underscore the needs for the business community, [is impactful].”
As communities across the country confront rising housing costs and growing shortages the data is clear: expanding supply is essential to supporting workers, strengthening local economies and sustaining long-term business growth.
The U.S. Chamber’s Strong Foundations playbook offers leaders a practical, data, driven roadmap to move from recognizing the problem to implementing real solutions. Housing affordability is possible when business leaders, local chambers and policymakers all work together.
Explore the “Strong Foundations” playbook to discover the location-specific strategies that can help unlock more homes, more opportunity and stronger economic resilience.
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About the author
Jen Scungio
Jen Scungio is the Senior Director, Editorial and Digital Media at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
