Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: The United States faces a historic housing crisis. 

OK … Well, have you heard about the lack of affordability in the housing market? Of rising construction costs? Higher mortgage rates? A chronic labor shortage? Zoning mishegoss that discourages housing development? 

Fine. Good. That means you’ve been reading Commercial Observer, and we thank you.

But it’s unlikely you’re that familiar with the people trying to both solve and capitalize on these challenges and that housing crisis. That’s why we came up with the idea for a Power Residential package. This list profiles the most powerful figures in residential real estate today.

It includes homebuilders with mammoth construction portfolios — Stuart Miller and Jon Jaffe at Lennar, Douglas Yearley at Toll Brothers, and others — as well as multifamily owners with equally Sasquatchian footprints such as Greystar’s Bob Faith and Miller Creek’s William MacDonald.  

There are the brokers extraordinaire. Ever hear of Ben Caballero and his $27 billion in sales? Maybe Ryan Serhant and Serena Boardman are more familiar names? And the people leading the marketing firms moving luxury condos in major markets such as New York, South Florida and the L.A. area make the list. (Looking at you, Corcoran Sunshine and Douglas Elliman New Development.) 

There are public officials, too, such as housing construction heir Bill Pulte, who now commands so much of the federal backbone holding up the mortgage markets and a lot of affordable housing. Speaking of the latter, we have the big names there, too, such as Michael Levitt, founder of what’s turned out to be America’s largest affordable housing developer. 

Then there are the names that drive the residential real estate industry and market in almost intangible, yet powerful, ways (see our honorable mention, for instance).

Together, they’re in a sweet yet tough spot business-wise: How to successfully satisfy historic demand amid myriad challenges hitting all at once? Read on for the answer. —Tom Acitelli

This package was written by Tom Acitelli, Andrew Coen, Gregory Cornfield, Cathy Cunningham, Isabelle Durso, Larry Getlen, Max Gross, Mark Hallum, Brian Pascus, Alison Rogers, Amanda Schiavo and Nick Trombola. It was edited by Acitelli, Gross, Schiavo and Skip Card. Jim Sewastynowicz edited the photography, and Jeff Cuyubamba designed the layout.