Center for American Progress – Nov. 4, 2026
Cities and states are trying to make sure that the workers who build affordable housing can afford a decent life.
Introduction and summary
America’s housing problems are well-known: Housing is too expensive and there is not enough of it. As a result, working families cannot afford to buy or rent homes. To increase the supply and reduce the costs of affordable housing, many states and localities are expanding public investments in the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing. At the same time, some state and local policymakers are tackling a long-standing but lesser-known problem in the sector: bad jobs. All too often, residential construction workers are paid poverty-level wages and are victims of wage theft and other labor violations.
Due to low pay, residential construction workers are often part of the same population that struggles to access decent housing. A 2025 market study found that a construction worker in Raleigh, North Carolina, would have to work 76 hours per week to afford the mortgage payment of a median-priced home in the area; a construction worker in Salt Lake City would have to work 84 hours; and a worker in San Jose, California, would have to work 175 hours—a mathematical impossibility. A study of construction worksites across Texas found that 72 percent of respondents earned below a living wage for a single adult. And a 2022 analysis from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that nearly 40 percent of all families of construction workers were enrolled in a safety net program such as Medicaid or nutrition assistance, and about 1 in 3 construction workers lacked health insurance.
Workers Building Affordable Housing Deserve Good Wages and Benefits