Let America Build: Why Housing Supply Matters to Your Business and Community

Housing supply and affordability shape every market where real estate professionals work. They affect whether clients can buy, rent, move closer to work, or stay connected to the communities they call home.

America faces a housing supply gap of approximately 4.03 million homes. At the same time, government regulation, taxes, fees, and other costs add more than 26% to the price of an average new single-family home, or roughly $130,000. These pressures make it harder for more people to find attainable housing and harder for communities to grow.

That is why Realtor.com is helping mobilize the real estate industry through Let America Build, a national public awareness campaign focused on increasing housing supply and encouraging fact-based conversations about local solutions.

What is Let America Build?

The campaign brings together real estate and housing organizations, including portals, brokerages, homebuilders, lenders, trade associations, trade media, and community-focused organizations. Each participant uses their voice and channels to elevate housing supply as a shared priority and highlight practical actions that can create more housing opportunities.

The campaign does not endorse or oppose candidates, political parties or ballot measures, but rather aimsto help people stay informed about what is shaping housing supply in their communities and encourage constructive conversations about the path forward.

Watch the webinar: The Race to Let America Build

In the recorded webinar, The Race to Let America Build:What the Housing Shortage Means for Your Business, Nick Baldwin, Co-founder of Lab Coat Agents, and John Alarcon, Integrated Marketing Lead at Realtor.com, discuss why housing supply affects every community and what real estate professionals can do to help move the conversation forward.

Three practical paths to unlock more housing

The campaign focuses on three areas where local action can make a difference.

1. Unlock land for housing

Communities can look for opportunities to reform outdated zoning and redevelop underused commercial and public land. Making more land available for housing can help expand options in places where demand is growing.

2. Build more homes

Housing choices can expand when communities allow more forms of housing, including duplexes, accessory dwelling units, small multifamily homes, modular housing, and manufactured housing. Removing barriers that slow homebuilding can also help move projects from plans to completed homes.

3. Cut red and green tape

Faster permit decisions, streamlined environmental reviews, and predictable approval timelines can reduce unnecessary delays and costs while preserving important community standards.

These solutions will look different from one market to the next. The important point is that the next chapter of housing progress will be shaped locally.

Why agents have an important role

Agents are close to the people experiencing the housing shortage. You hear from buyers who cannot find an attainable home, renters who want to become homeowners, families trying to stay near work and schools, and sellers navigating a market where affordability affects demand.

That proximity gives agents an opportunity to:

• Share clear, fact-based information about housing supply and affordability.
• Help clients understand how local policies can influence housing choices and costs.
• Encourage informed conversations with colleagues, community members, and local leaders.
• Bring practical housing solutions into everyday conversations instead of treating the issue as abstract or partisan.
• Use your professional platform to help more people understand why building more homes matters.

Participation does not require agents to endorse a candidate, party, or ballot measure. It starts with learning the issue, understanding local context, and sharing information that helps communities have a more productive conversation.

Make the message your own

Realtor.com’s Let America Build toolkit includes ready-to-share, co-brandable assets that agents can customize for their own channels. Available formats include social posts, social stories, postcards, and yard signs, where permitted by local ordinances.

The campaign hub makes it easy to add available brand elements such as a logo, headshot, or image, select the right size, review a suggested caption, and download the finished asset.

Create and download your co-branded Let America Build assets