As the nation faces a growing housing supply crisis, policymakers and industry leaders are turning up the volume on collaborative solutions. On Thursday, Bryan Greene, vice president of policy advocacy for the National Association of REALTORS®, joined a panel discussion hosted by the bipartisan Congressional Build America Caucus to spotlight the challenges and opportunities surrounding housing development and affordability in America.
The event, hosted by Caucus Chair Josh Harder (D-Calif.) and Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Calif.) brought together a diverse group of bipartisan lawmakers and stakeholders, including Mike Kingsella, CEO of Up for Growth; Lake Coulson, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Home Builders; and Alex Armlovich, senior housing policy analyst at the Niskanen Center.
Greene emphasized the urgent need for bipartisan action to address the housing affordability and supply crisis. Other members of Congress in attendance included Reps. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.), Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), George Whitesides (D-Calif.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), and Scott Peters (D-Calif.).
ROAD to Housing Act and Other Legislation
The panel emphasized that tackling the housing supply and affordability crisis is critical to sustaining long-term economic growth. They pointed to restrictive zoning laws, burdensome regulations and ongoing labor shortages as some of the chief culprits behind the bottleneck in development.
The ROAD to Housing Act includes many provisions designed to meet America’s diverse housing needs:
- Building More Homes and Cutting Red Tape: Helps communities overcome zoning and other barriers, streamlines environmental reviews for housing projects, and creates grants for communities that build more homes.
- Opening Doors to Homeownership: Removes barriers that make it harder to obtain smaller mortgages, improves the home appraisal process, helps families save for homes, and ensures veterans are aware of their home loan benefits.
- Supporting Housing Innovation: Updates rules and financing for manufactured and modular homes and encourages new building technologies that make housing more affordable.
- Helping Communities Recover from Disasters: Permanently authorizes disaster recovery efforts to help communities rebuild while incorporating resilience measures to reduce repetitive losses and maintain insurability.
The panelists also agreed that protecting the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit is important to addressing the housing affordability crisis. To that end, NAR had supported the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, which included provisions in the tax reform bill passed earlier this year.
The panelists also expressed their support for the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, which would attract private investment to build and rehabilitate owner-occupied homes, and the More Homes on the Market Act, aimed at reducing the equity penalty and incentivizing more long-term owners to sell their homes.
NAR Leaders at the Policy Table
The event, part of the Build America Caucus’s ongoing speaker series, underscored the growing consensus across political and industry lines that solving the housing crisis requires both deregulation and federal support for infrastructure and innovation.
For NAR, participation in events like these is critical to advancing the organization’s housing agenda on Capitol Hill. Greene closed by reaffirming NAR’s commitment to advocating for solutions that increase housing supply, reduce barriers to homeownership and promote inclusive growth.
“There is a lot of room for opportunity when it comes to addressing housing affordability. NAR’s members are on the front lines of this crisis every day, and we know the importance of public-private collaboration to get shovels in the ground,” Greene says. “We’re glad to see leaders from both parties taking this seriously and inviting agents who are REALTORS® to be part of the solution.”
