In the short run, he says, local officials need to prepare for more renters.

“What communities need to do to ensure they are prepared is first to make sure that there are sites where new multifamily housing can be built,” he says. “And the multifamily housing that gets built needs to go in communities with high opportunity, not just communities where the schools don’t perform well and where it’s not safe to live.”

The availability — or lack thereof — of quality rental housing will put communities in competition with one another as a more mobile workforce is able to vote with its feet, says Conway of Generation Opportunity…

In theory, fewer homeowners will mean municipalities will rake in less revenue from property taxes. But Pendall believes local governments will simply adjust to make rental properties “a larger share of the tax pie.”

And within those communities, some businesses will feel the pinch.