I think most of us know the frustration of waiting on the federal government. In a small development of 22 homes I’m developing in Oklahoma City, we have been waiting for 3 months for the post office to order two small master locks so we can install the mail kiosks. Our residents would like to get their mail delivered. The response I get is from a generic email address of a person who refuses even to share their name. Mired in partisan politics, Congress is at an impasse and seems incapable of passing any kind of meaningful legislation.

But as the housing crisis in the US rages, the feds “play their fiddles while Rome burns”. As a result, state and local governments are stepping into this housing crisis to lead the way in adding more rooftops for their workforce.

In New Mexico, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham put it simply when she signed two bills this week to address their housing needs. “We’ve gotta build more houses”. That’s about it. New Mexico didn’t get bogged down in partisan fights, or political posturing. They know they face a huge deficit of housing in a state that is adding thousands of new jobs and that someone has to “build more houses”.

We’ve gotta build more houses. We need more affordable rentals, we need more affordable homes for sale, we need more duplexes, we need more apartments. We need all of it to address the shortage of homes and if we address the shortage of homes, the costs of rents and home purchases will stabilize. So, kudos to the state and local governments who are stepping into this crisis with real solutions to add some rooftops and not waiting in futility while listening to the screeching sound of Washington’s inaction.