Globally 1.6 billion people will be denied access to affordable housing by the middle of this decade. In the U.S. alone, the National Association of Realtors estimates a shortage of more than 7 million homes, a gap that has been widening for decades.

Behind this epic market failure is a lending crisis featuring two inter-related problems:

• Access to capital is severely limited. Today, builders seeking financing must appeal to a small number of "specialty" lenders, which limits loan volumes and holds back builders from meeting demand for new homes and

• Payments to the supply chain are profoundly delayed. Even when loans are secured, today's construction lending practices slow payments to the small businesses (builders, contractors, subcontractors) responsible for construction work dramatically – they wait an average of 80 days to be paid for their work while their construction costs pile up.

The result is chronic underinvestment in vital infrastructure, burdensome administration for lenders, immense working capital burdens for the supply chain, and perennial inefficiencies. Globally, construction projects take 20% longer to complete, while 80% are over-budget. Given these dynamics, it's no surprise that only three percent of all real estate investment supports new construction. What should be an enterprise of mutual benefit is instead one of mistrust, vendor turnover, late and over-budget products, and a growing undersupply of homes.