NAHB Participates in Capitol Hill Housing Forum

NAHB Chief Lobbyist Lake Coulson on Jan. 14 participated in a Housing Affordability Roundtable hosted by the New Democrat Coalition, which represents over half of the Democratic caucus. Lawmakers and housing stakeholders discussed ways to address affordability challenges and enact federal housing finance reforms.

Coulson noted that the best way to ease the nation’s housing affordability woes is to reduce barriers that are preventing home builders from increasing the housing supply.

To tackle key headwinds facing the residential construction industry, Coulson cited the need to modernize and improve key housing creations tools such as the Home Investment Partnership (HOME) Program, a federal program designed to boost affordable housing for low-income households.

Noting that roughly 200,000 construction jobs go unfilled each month and that this has an adverse impact on the supply of new housing and raises construction costs, Coulson called on Congress to pass the CONSTRUCTS Act. This bipartisan legislation pending in the House and Senate would prepare and train more workers for rewarding careers in the home building industry. Coulson also called on Congress to pass the PERMIT and SPEED Acts, legislation approved by the House that would improve the federal permitting process to allow new home projects to move forward.

Coulson added that in this divided Congress, housing is truly a bipartisan issue. The Senate has approved the ROAD to Housing Act with overwhelming bipartisan support. This major housing package is designed to address our nation’s housing supply crisis by cutting red tape, incentivizing local zoning reform and supporting new construction. Mirroring the Senate’s efforts, with resounding bipartisan support, the House Financial Services Committee approved its own plan to increase housing production, the Housing for the 21st Century Act. NAHB encourages lawmakers to move quickly to bring this legislation to the House floor.