Can We Overcome the North American Housing Crisis? These Firms Say Yes

Home ownership is often regarded as the pinnacle of the (North) American dream, with picket fences and sizable homes projecting one’s stability and success. However, broad housing market trends over the past 15 years suggest that this dream is becoming nearly impossible for the majority of Canadian and American adults. Unprecedented population growth, especially post-COVID, coupled with enormous housing shortages and external economic factors, has resulted in skyrocketing home prices across many North American cities. The growing gap between wages and home prices is a trend that neither Canadian nor American cities have escaped; as of July 2025, Vancouver had the highest North American home price-to-income ratio at 13.5, followed by Los Angeles with 10.7. In other words, the average price for a home was 13.5 and 10.7 times higher than the median household incomes, respectively. The supply and demand challenges associated with North America’s housing market have rendered consumers helpless, leaving many wondering if the prospect of home ownership will ever amount to more than a dream. 

Disappointingly, previous government efforts have proved ineffective in combating North America’s housing crisis. The Canadian federal government has launched numerous initiatives to help alleviate housing instability, including implementing Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada’s Housing Plan in 2024. This plan outlined a commitment to three priority areas: building more homes, simplifying the home ownership and rental process, and helping Canadians who cannot afford a home. However, stakeholder analyses indicate that government efforts have fallen short in effectively addressing the housing crisis. For example, the parliamentary budget officer argued in an August 2025 report that Canada “isn’t currently on track” to build enough homes in the next decade to close the housing gap. More recently, a December 2025 report from the officer found that federal housing spending is set to decline by more than 50 per cent over the next four years under Prime Minister Mark Carney, with the government’s flagship housing initiative projected to deliver only a modest increase in new homes.

A similar pattern has been observed in the United States. Over the past two decades, affordable housing has been deemed a priority across the political spectrum, with presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump all attempting to remedy this issue. Despite cross-party support, no recent US administration has allocated effective resources to combat the housing crisis. Economists noted that the US failed to build enough homes under the Obama administration to steady the housing crisis; for instance, the San Francisco Bay Area saw only one new home built for every seven new jobs created from 2010 to 2015. The Biden administration demonstrated similar shortfalls—while advocates praised the president’s vision of increasing housing affordability, critics argued that his plan failed to address “the key factor behind the crisis: America just doesn’t have enough homes.” Moreover, many Americans cite Trump’s budget cuts as a key factor that has stalled progress towards affordable housing. While both Democratic and Republican presidents have sought to promote housing affordability, America has yet to see a substantial increase in the quantity of homes available, the crux of the crisis in the country. 

Based on this bleak portrait, the North American housing crisis may appear unrectifiable. However, two emerging firms are spearheading bottom-up approaches that offer a sense of invigoration to this long-standing problem. I spoke with C-suite executives from Canadian-based Sparrow and US-based Fading West to better understand their business strategies, operating models, and further resources needed to scale their solutions. 

Sparrow is an online platform rooted in the belief that homesharing can play a significant role in mitigating the housing crisis in Canada. Founded in 2021, the company focuses on two parallel issues: housing unaffordability and loneliness—both of which have skyrocketed in the post-COVID era. I spoke with CEO and co-founder Oren Singer to discover what inspired him to create a homesharing platform. Singer responded that his company identified an existing housing supply of over 12 million empty bedrooms across Canada—what he referred to as “underoptimized housing space.” Their solution to optimize? Homesharing—where individuals rent empty bedrooms and share common areas, thus minimizing loneliness while maximizing housing affordability. By leveraging the existing supply of empty bedrooms, Sparrow presents a rapid and innovative approach to combating housing unaffordability, in comparison to building millions of homes from scratch. Singer outlined that the firm targets consumers on both the supply and demand sides of the problem, providing positive economic opportunities for all users. Suppliers consist of homeowners, who benefit from the supplemental income received from renters, which helps offset increased costs of living or mortgage costs. Conversely, demand is generated by students, newcomers to Canada, and younger professionals, many of whom are attracted to the affordability associated with Sparrow rentals, which split rental costs among multiple individuals through its shared living platform. Sparrow demonstrates that innovative, bottom-up solutions can help address two of Canada’s most pressing social challenges: housing unaffordability and social isolation. 

Fading West is a Colorado-based modular homebuilding company that challenges conventional on-site construction by assembling homes inside a 110,000-square-foot factory to promote sustainability and efficiency. I spoke with Eric Schaefer, the company’s Chief Business Development Officer, to better understand their innovative engineering approach. Fading West started as a developer firm in Buena Vista, a rural mountain town with a population of 3,200. While small, Buena Vista had a significant housing demand for the area’s essential workers. Quickly, however, Fading West recognized the challenges associated with the region’s short building season due to cold climates and variable weather conditions. Accordingly, the firm pivoted to modular housing construction in 2021, which differs from on-site construction by assembling homes within factories and transporting them to their final destination. By building modular homes, Fading West is filling a key gap in the housing market. As McKinsey & Company reported, the construction industry has observed slower productivity increases than most other labour-intensive industries, prompting the need for innovative industry solutions. Fading West’s new model stimulated a “radical reduction of on-site work and waste,” transforming efficiency by building homes in just eight days. In turn, project costs are significantly reduced, thus providing a feasible solution to mitigate soaring home prices across North America. Fading West’s model illustrates the potential of modular construction to overcome geographic and climate constraints while promoting housing affordability and accessibility. 

Each of these companies has developed an innovative strategy to remedy North America’s housing crisis. When I asked each C-suite executive about scaling their solutions, the overarching theme that emerged was the need for ongoing government support. Sparrow’s Singer noted that federal government funding played a central role in launching the company through funding from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Similarly, Fading West’s Schaefer emphasized the significance of Colorado Proposition 123, which was implemented in 2022 to allocate income tax revenue to fund affordable housing initiatives. Schaefer also outlined the need for various government stakeholders at local, state, and federal levels to streamline regulations that would allow for faster and cheaper modular homebuilding. Colorado currently has over 300 different building codes, which poses a challenge to creating modular homes due to different zoning and sizing regulations. Acknowledging the immediate need for affordable housing, Schaefer suggested that the federal government implement codes to supersede local regulations, allowing for homes to be built faster and, in turn, lower housing costs. 

With home ownership appearing unattainable for millions across North America, it is time to turn to new solutions that transform how consumers think about building and living in a home. Together, Sparrow and Fading West are more than just ideas; they are bottom-up movements with the potential to overcome North America’s housing crisis if supported by adequate government funding.

Edited by Lindsay Hayes. 

Featured image: Modular housing challenges conventional homebuilding practices, providing an efficient mechanism to combat housing shortages across North America. Photo by Kansas City District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is licensed under CC BY 2.0.