A little more than a year after debuting Let America Build at South by Southwest, Realtor.com has launched its first major public awareness campaign around the initiative.
Realtor.com and 13 real estate, homebuilding and housing advocacy groups — including Zillow, the National Association of Home Builders, Habitat for Humanity, Veterans United and eXp Realty — have unveiled LetAmericaBuild.org, a website that educates consumers about zoning and permitting, housing policies, housing types and construction trends. Realtor.com said the recent passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act has put housing in the spotlight, and that now is the time to draw the throughline between federal policy, state and local action, and housing affordability.
Damian Eales | Credit: Realtor.com
“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together, and with a problem as big as America’s home shortage, it is time we go together,” Realtor.com CEO Damian Eales said in a public statement on Tuesday. “Earlier this year, I challenged the industry to come together and unify. Let America Build is a result of that call.”
“Now, after the 21st Century ROAD to Housing bill has become law, elected officials have the opportunity to make housing supply a visible community priority,” he added. “This campaign aims to help Americans engage in real conversations about how their communities can create more housing opportunities.”
Eales began zeroing in on housing affordability last year, with the leader sidestepping the battle over the National Association of Realtors Clear Cooperation Policy — Realtor.com defended CCP but declined to ban non-compliant listings like Zillow and Redfin — in favor of focusing on Let America Build.
“If this industry can get behind one issue, it’s housing supply,” Eales said at Inman Connect San Diego 2025. “Let’s turn off this conversation about Clear Cooperation. It can be refined. But [housing inventory] is a bipartisan issue where even my staunchest competitors in the industry would agree that we should have more homes built in this country. And I think that genuinely, we can make a difference in our local communities if we start talking more about it.”
Although estimates run as high as 10 million, Realtor.com said its data puts the housing supply gap at 4.03 million homes. The shortage, the portal said, has been exacerbated by outdated zoning and permitting laws, with the National Association of Home Builders estimating that government regulation, taxes, fees and other miscellaneous related costs boost the cost of the an average new single-family home by 26 percent.
Jim Tobin | Credit: NAHB
“Let America Build brings industry stakeholders together with officials at every level of government to address the nation’s housing affordability crisis by removing inefficient zoning rules, unnecessary regulations, permitting delays and other barriers that keep builders from delivering more affordable, attainable homes,” NAHB CEO Jim Tobin said in the announcement. “The campaign builds on the momentum of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and advances practical solutions to help builders expand the nation’s housing supply.”
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which passed in July, modernizes affordability programs like the Community Development Block Grant and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, expands environmental review exclusions and includes a $200 million annual grant program to reward cities that streamline permitting. The Act also puts guardrails on institutional buyers, forcing them to sell their stock after a set time period.
Housing experts say it will likely take years for homebuyers to reap the benefits of the Act; however, Let America Build’s partners say it provides the perfect foundation for the housing industry at large to take action.
Jeremy Wacksman | Credit: Zillow
“America’s housing shortage is pricing renters and buyers out of the communities they love,” Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman said. “We know what’s driving it and we know what will fix it: streamlining permitting, modernizing zoning and unlocking land that’s already there…”
Added eXp Realty and NextHome CEO Leo Pareja, “We didn’t build eXp and NextHome around a one-size-fits-all model, because we know entrepreneurs and consumers alike do better when they have choice. America’s housing shortage demands that same thinking at the local level: more options, fewer barriers, faster paths from plan to reality. That’s why we’re proud to join Let America Build.”
Leo Pareja | Credit: eXp
T3 Sixty, ICON, Land Use Labs, Home Services of America, RISMedia, the Asian Real Estate Association of America, LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance and the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals are also founding participants, with LGBTQ+ Alliance Executive Director Alex Cruz saying it’s important to “open the door to homeownership for more people and more families in every community.”
Realtor.com isn’t the only company to roll out a housing initiative. JPMorgan Chase put $750 billion toward its American Dream Initiative in August, and on Monday, Airbnb announced a $250 million Housing Accelerator Fund that’s projected to generate $5 billion in capital by 2036.
