‘It is a crisis’: Mayors share how grappling with housing has shaped their job

A coalition of Georgia housing rights organizations build a makeshift home outside the state Capitol in March to promote a tax credit bill that would save money on home construction expenses for nonprofits. Mayors across the country say the housing crisis has become one of their most important challenges. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)

In U.S. cities big and small, mayors are finding their tenures shaped by housing shortages, and efforts to build more homes, so that people of any income can afford a place to live.

In a series of conversations, mayors of big cities such as Atlanta and Seattle, as well as of midsize Midwest cities like Columbus, Ohio, and Madison, Wisconsin, told Stateline that housing is the No. 1 priority for mayors to tackle.

“Housing is by far one of the mo