At the 2025 Groundwork Housing Summit, attendees heard an interview from Arkansas State Representative Nicole Clowney and National Housing Crisis Task Force member Michael Saadine. The task force is a bipartisan group of elected officials and housing practitioners working to surface and scale innovative solutions to the nation’s housing challenges.
Co-chaired by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Fifth Third Bank Community Development Coordinator Susan Thomas, the task force unites a wide range of voices to bridge the gap between research and real-world implementation.
Since its launch, the task force has released two major resources: a Federal Policy Agenda for Housing and a State and Local Housing Action Plan, which highlights scalable innovations across five categories: land, capital, construction, regulation and governance.
Shifting National Perspective on Housing
For many years, housing affordability was seen primarily as an issue affecting lower-income households. Today, it’s become a concern for the median homebuyer as well. Rising interest rates, limited supply and rapid migration have created a market that’s increasingly difficult to navigate for families across the income spectrum.
The task force emphasized the need to treat housing as a long-term, systemic challenge, not a temporary market fluctuation.
From Research to Implementation
As the task force moves into its second year, the focus is shifting from research to implementation. Members are exploring ways to engage the private sector more deeply, strengthen state and local leadership and address the full housing system.
While policy approaches vary across states, the task force highlighted the power of simplification and flexibility. Whether through zoning incentives, permitting reforms, or uniform building codes, state-level action can help create conditions that enable more housing choice and reduce soft costs for developers.
Unlocking Innovation through Construction and Capital
The task force sees regions like Arkansas as ideal proving grounds for innovative building techniques like modular housing, 3D printed housing and mass timber - especially given access to natural resources, land and skilled labor.
Saadine explained, “The conditions are there for a whole of industry approach to modular with the private and public sectors and municipalities and regions holding hands to actually produce enough demand to kickstart some real factories.”
While innovative, it takes coordinated demand, financing, and collaboration to make modular housing viable at scale.
To support that scale, the task force pointed to creative capital solutions. In Utah, the Starter Home Program uses state funds to offer low-interest loans for attainable homes. In San Francisco, the Housing Accelerator Fund blends philanthropic and private dollars to speed up project delivery. Both models demonstrate how flexible financing can lower costs and expand housing supply.
Building Resilience at Every Level
Federal tools like the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Opportunity Zones remain critical. However, as Saadine emphasized, it’s equally important to “build your state and local infrastructure to be resilient to possible changes.” Rather than relying solely on federal funding, communities can strengthen their stability.
Creative financing emerged as a central theme in the discussion, with the task force highlighting how states and regions can leverage cheaper capital to accelerate housing production.
Examples ranged from Utah’s Starter Home Program, which uses state funds to offer low-interest loans on homes under $450,000, to California’s approach of borrowing against its state balance sheet. Other innovative models, like San Francisco’s Housing Accelerator Fund, blend philanthropic and private dollars to provide bridge financing, allowing projects to move forward faster while awaiting public funding.
The Power of Local Coordination
Beyond funding and construction, the task force underscored the importance of governance and coordination. Housing challenges touch every part of local government, from education and infrastructure to public health.
In Atlanta, a housing strike force now brings together multiple departments, the city’s urban development corporation, and private funders through a common intake process for housing projects. In Alabama, a coordinated statewide approach to Opportunity Zones has attracted significant investment by uniting public, private, and philanthropic partners early in the process.
Looking Ahead
As the National Housing Crisis Task Force prepares for its next convening, the group’s mission remains clear: turn research into action. With bipartisan leadership and growing alignment across sectors, the task force aims to accelerate proven ideas into national momentum.
Their work is a reminder that while the housing crisis is complex, progress begins when communities share knowledge, coordinate resources, and act collectively toward solutions that make homes attainable for everyone.
