The other day, I received an article from someone well-known in the offsite construction industry asking if I would consider publishing it on Offsite Straight Talk. I usually have no problem sharing guest content, especially when it comes from people who have been around the industry for a while. But this one caught my attention for a different reason.
The article stretched across 11 pages of text and photos and promised to explain what everyone involved in affordable housing needs to do to finally make it work. Since it came from a recognizable industry figure, I settled in and started reading, expecting at least a few fresh ideas or a different perspective.
Two pages in, I was still waiting.
By page three, I found myself skimming the subheadings, hoping the next section would reveal something new. It didn't. Every recommendation sounded familiar. Every challenge had already been discussed at conferences, webinars, panel discussions, and industry roundtables over the last couple of years. By the time I reached the conclusion, I realized I had just read a polished summary of nearly every affordable housing conversation we've been having lately.
What struck me most was what wasn't there.
Not once did the article offer a practical suggestion for moving the ball forward. Instead, the solution seemed to be more committees, more studies, more advisors, including him, more stakeholder groups, and, of course, more government involvement. Everyone needed to talk about the problem. Everyone needed to examine the problem. Everyone needed to form another group to discuss the problem.
But nobody needed to actually do anything.
After finishing the article—or more accurately, finishing my skim through the final pages—I realized I could summarize the entire 11-page document in three words borrowed from Nike:
"Just Do It."
Because at some point, affordable housing doesn't need another committee. It needs a builder. It needs a developer. It needs a lender. It needs a municipality willing to say yes. And it needs people willing to stop studying the problem long enough to start solving it.
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