The holiday season has been a reminder for me of the importance of home and how incredibly fortunate many of us are to have one to go to. A place to celebrate with friends and family coupled with a sense of belonging. Our current situation in Denver and across the country is also a reminder that for many, a place to call home is becoming harder to achieve.

Recent estimates suggest that America is short 3.2 million units of housing. It is estimated that Denver needs 70,000 units to bridge our affordable-housing gap. Right now, Denver’s new mayor is working to create 1,000 units of housing for the city’s homeless. As a developer who has created thousands of units of housing over the years, I can tell you units are important. Each unit creates jobs and increases supply.

However, business leaders who care deeply about this community and the future of Denver also understand that our affordable-housing crisis will not be solved by units alone. Solving this problem will be defined by how we all work together.

No doubt, the units that we need to build for someone who is homeless and in need of treatment, and the units we need to build for teachers, first responders, nurses, hospitality workers — well, those are all different kinds of units. Units translate to a community — a park for your child, a place to worship, a dinner invitation from a neighbor. Units are homes.

I am calling on my friends and colleagues in the private sector to rise to the occasion and respond to the affordable-housing crisis together with our mayor, our City Council, and our nonprofits in a way that shapes the dialogue both locally and nationally. It requires changes in how we are talking about the issue and the way we are working on it.

Right now, we can build certain units in less than a day. But building community takes more time and demands that our organizations work together if we are to truly succeed. We can be much more collaborative and innovative when it comes to financing, housing policy, and site placement.

Also, it cannot just be the mayor’s plan. It needs to be our plan. How we collaborate and treat one another will define us and our communities for decades. We can all agree affordable housing will not be solved through personal attacks and social media posts. At the same time, we know this is not easy and we will not always agree!

As business leaders, we know how to work strategically with our community leaders and our neighborhoods to identify viable placements for new affordable housing. But we also need to couple compassion with accountability. Expectations and services must be in place to ensure that the people who move into these housing units, and the existing neighborhoods around them, will thrive. This includes access to jobs, transportation, schools, health care and public safety.

As a member of this community, I am deeply committed to being a part of the affordable-housing solution. Affordable housing is a problem in Denver that we must tackle in 2024.

We should keep in mind that those most impacted by the affordable-housing problem are people who, regardless of their situation, need our support. Everyone deserves a predictable and safe place to rest their heads at night.

Our city and state will thrive when we work together to ensure housing for all.

Pat Hamill is CEO and founder of Oakwood Homes.