Technological innovation in homebuilding has been a research topic at HUD since the 1970s. Building Even Better Homes: Strategies for Promoting Innovation in Home Building reevaluates the significant findings of Building Better Homes. The report uses history and experience as a guide for what role HUD might play in fostering building technology innovation in the future. The report documents prior efforts and what we learned regarding successes and failures.

From Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University: Just as the recent housing downturn was longer and deeper than any other since the Great Depression, the residential construction rebound has been slower. Since reaching bottom in 2011 at just 633,000 new units, additions to the housing stock have grown at an average annual rate of just 10 percent. Despite these steady gains, completions and placements totaled only 1.2 million units last year—the lowest annual production, excluding 2008–2018, going back to 1982.

A worker earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in Texas must work 112 hours per week (more than 2 full-time jobs) to afford a two-bedroom rental home.