Watch: Economic Parity Starts With Housing Equity | U.S. News Live

Like many parts of the nation, the cost of living in New York City has risen dramatically in recent years, and climbing housing costs are pricing out many people in underserved communities and threatening the broader economy. Building a sustainable path forward to make housing more affordable and accessible requires an all-hands-on-deck collaboration between developers, affordable housing advocates, policymakers and beyond, said a panel of housing experts at the recent “The State of Equity in America” forum hosted by U.S. News & World Report.

At the event, thought leaders from business, government, health, the nonprofit world and other sectors came together to highlight solutions to address economic and health inequities across the country, with a special focus on New York.

“This is a cost and expense that literally none of us don’t incur, and yet somehow tends to fly under the radar when it comes to actually putting it front and center too often in government, in national agendas,” said Barika Williams, executive director of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, a community organization in the city, during the panel discussion.

“If you think about it, there are really three buckets: what can government do directly, what can government do to incentive the private sector to do more, and how do we make the blueprint and the roadmap clear and pro-housing?” said Alicia Glen, founder of MSquared, a real estate development and investment platform.

Watch full video of the discussion here (runtime: 20:28):