America Needs a National Housing Loss Rate

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) selected our policy proposal to create a National Housing Loss Rate as a winner of its “Creative Thinking To Boost Housing Supply” ideas challenge. We argue that just as America has a national unemployment rate, if we want to get serious about stemming our housing crisis then we need a National Housing Loss Rate to track how, where, and why 10 to 20 million Americans lose their homes each year. Similar to the national unemployment rate, a national housing loss rate would help drive accountability and action among policymakers and improve resource allocation, regulation, and housing supply interventions.

FAS selected our policy idea along with 19 other ideas introducing innovations to address the national housing crisis within the realms of construction, financing, public land use, and data collection. The selected briefs contain clear recommendations directed at federal level leaders to take decisive action to increase housing supply. Read the memo here, and see the full list of FAS-selected briefs here.