The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on Building Capacity: Reducing Government Roadblocks to Housing Supply last Wednesday.

The hearing highlighted over 40 housing bills, many of which are supported by NH&RA. Committee members and witnesses explored policies, factors, and solutions to the nation’s housing supply shortage including:

  • LIHTC — witness Julie Smith mentioned the need to allocate more soft funding to make LIHTC most effective;
  • Housing Choice Vouchers;
  • Continuum of Care (CoC) funding cuts;
  • Build America, Buy America (BABA) reforms;
  • National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and environmental review reforms;
  • HOME Reform Act, which reauthorizes the HOME program and includes BABA, NEPA, and Section 3 reforms;
  • Fair Housing Act and cuts to the Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity (FHEO) office at HUD;
  • Increasing the Public Welfare Investment (PWI) cap from 15 to 20 percent — both Rep. Kim (R-CA) and Rep. Davidson (R-OH) mentioned their support of the Community Investment and Prosperity Act;
  • Tariffs and added construction costs;
  • Rising cost of insurance premiums;
  • GSE reforms; and
  • Opportunity Zones.

Chair of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, Mike Flood (R-NE), spoke about his Build Housing More Affordably Act and the need for BABA reforms to lower building costs for affordable housing.

  • This bill exempts HUD- or USDA-funded projects focused solely on the purchase, construction, or improvement of residential housing from Build America, Buy America Act requirements.
  • During his testimony, Chairman Flood cited numerous examples of BABA premiums adding costs to affordable housing. Thank you to all of our members for sending in your examples; please continue sending them!
'We Must Use Federal Resources to Build Housing Affordably' – Rep. Flood to Witnesses at FSC Hearing

Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT) also shared his support (starting at 30 seconds) for reforming HUD’s application of BABA and asked witness Julie Smith to elaborate on how BABA makes housing less affordable.

Downing Delivers Remarks at Hearing on Reducing Government Roadblocks to Housing Supply

What’s Next: The House Financial Services markup is scheduled for Tuesday, December 16 and Wednesday, December 17. Bills to be heard in each markup will be posted on the House Financial Services website.

Call to Action: Please continue to send Ilana Morof:

  1. Data that demonstrates the cost that BABA adds to HUD and USDA housing projects (beyond just the HOME program); and
  2. Anecdotes demonstrating in real terms the effects BABA compliance has on projects.