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31 May 2025 May 2025 ยป C O V E R S T O R Y people to buy. Affordability is a related issue, but for those of us who live in the single-family rental housing world, the lack of supply is as much of a problem, if not more of a problem, than it is in the owner-occupied market. People need a place to live. House- hold formation doesn't stop based on what the broader trends in the econ- omy are doing. It might slow down, it might accelerate, but there are certain things that you really can't control in this world, and needing a place to live is one of them. We've had a chronic under-supply of homebuilding for several years, and it's starting to catch up with us. That's the big issue that's impacting the world of single-family rental housing, and housing at a broader level as well. There are some things that we are doing within the industry to try to address that. We look at single-family rental hous- ing as a part of the solution to ails the broader housing market. We're provid- ing housing that is more affordable for families in locations where people want to be because those homes might be in proximity to places of employment or transportation quarters. Often it comes down to things like where people want to have their kids in school, they want to be in certain neighborhoods, they want to be in certain communities. And given where affordability is today, oftentimes it's in the better interest of families and individuals to rent than buy. One of the things that we're doing to try to address this lack of supply is build-to-rent. Building homes to rent has been around forever, but what's new in this space is the building of entire communities for rent. You'll have a home builder who will build 150 homes with a little club and walking paths and all of that, and all of the homes will be for rent instead of for sale. That's a trend that's starting to catch on, particularly in places like the Southeast, Southwest, and Texas, as a way of trying to address the fact that there just isn't enough housing out there. Q: How has the role of institutional investors in the housing market evolved over the past five years, and where do you see it heading next? Howard: Institutional investors play an important role in the single-family rent- al housing industry, and it's a role that is becoming more important. As we look to address some of these structural chal- lenges confronting the housing markets, what institutions do very well is provide